



W: 


















Book t P ^ ^ ,_ 



^ 



^ 



A JOUKNEY 



TO 



ASHANGO - LAND: 

AND FUETHEE PENETEITION INTO 
EQUATOEIAL AFEICA. 



Bt PAUL B. DU CHAILLU, 

AUTHOR OF EXPLORATIONS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 



•;> 




Potamo^ale Velox, MyUaomys of Gray. 



WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 




NEW YOEK: 
D. APPLET ON AND CO., BROADWAY. 

1867. 



/ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1867, by D. Appleton & Co., 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tM 
Southern District of New York. 



\S> 






PEEFACE. 



-»*•- 



The position of an explorer of unknown countries 
in England is peculiar, and very difficult. If lie 
returns home with nothing new or striking to relate 
he is voted a bore, and his book has no chance of 
being read ; if he has some wonders to unfold, con- 
nected with Geography, the Natives, or Natural 
History, the fate of Abyssinian Bruce too often awaits 
him : his narrative being held up to scorn and ridi- 
cule, as a tissue of figments. 

It was my lot, on the publication of my first 
volume of travels in Equatorial Africa, to meet with 
a reception of that sort from many persons in England 
and Germany. In fact I had visited a country pre- 
viously unexplored by Europeans — the wooded region 
bordering the Equator, in the interior of Western 
Africa — and thus it was my good fortune to observe 
the habits of several remarkable species of animals 
found nowhere else. Hence my narrative describing 
unknown animals was condemned. The novelty of 
the subject was too striking for some of my critics ; 
and not only were the accounts I gave of the animals 
and native tribes stigmatized as false, but my journey 
into the interior itself was pronounced a fiction. 



VI PEEFACE. 

Although hurt to the quick hj these unfair and 
ungenerous criticisms, I cherished no maHce towards 
my detractors, for I knew the time would come when 
the truth of all that was essential in the statements 
which had been disputed would be made clear ; I 
was consoled, besides, by the support of many emi- 
nent men, who refused to believe that my narrative 
and observations were deliberate falsehoods. Making 
no pretensions to infallibility, any more than, other 
travellers, I was ready to acknowledge any mistake 
that I might have fallen into, in the course of com- 
piling my book from my rough notes. The only 
revenge I cherished was that of better preparing 
myself for another journey into the same region, 
providing myself with instruments and apparatus 
which I did not possess on my first exploration, 
and thus being enabled to vindicate my former 
accounts by facts not to be controverted. 

It is necessary, however, to inform my English 
readers that most of the principal statements in my 
former book which were sneered at by my critics, have 
been already amply confirmed by other travellers in 
the same part of Africa, or by evidence which has 
reached England. 

I may first mention the geographical part of my 
work. No portion of my book was more discredited 
than the journeys into the interior, and it will be 
recollected by many persons that the learned geo- 
grapher. Dr. Earthy a man whose great attainments 
and services as an African traveller I esteemed most 



PREFACE. vn 

highly, published his disbelief in these interior explo- 
rations altogether. A map is in existence, showing 
the probable extent of my journeys according to Dr. 
Barth, and it marks my various excursions as not 
being in any case more than a few miles from the 
coast. My visit to Ashira-land, and discovery of the 
Ngouyai River, were thus considered pure inventions. 
Dr. Petermann, the well-known geographer, in con- 
structing his map of my journeys, published in the 
' Greographische Mittheilungen ' in 1862, took into 
consideration the doubts of Dr. Barth and others, 
and though not so extreme a sceptic himself, believed 
it necessary to move all the positions I had given of 
places visited, much nearer the coast, so as to reduce 
greatly the length of my routes. 

It must be recollected that I made no pretension 
to close accuracy in my own map. I had no instru- 
ments, and projected my route only by an estimate, 
necessarily rough, of the distances travelled. The 
circumstance of having been the first to explore the 
region was, besides, a disadvantage to me, for I had 
no previous map, however rough, to guide me ; and 
in travelling with negroes day after day, under the 
shade of forests, often by circuitous routes, I was 
misled as to the length of the marches I made towards 
the east. I was therefore inclined to accept the correc- 
tions of Dr. Petermann, who had studied well the sub- 
ject, and adopted his map in the French edition of my 
* Equatorial Africa.' It was not long, however, before 
fresh evidence arrived, which proved that Dr. Peter- 



viii PEEFACB. 

mann had gone too far in his corrections. In 1862 a 
French Government expedition, under Messrs. Serval 
and Griffon Du Bellay, explored the Ogobai river, 
and not only proved the general truth of my account 
of that great stream, but showed that the country of 
the Ashira, visited by me, had not been placed far 
wrong. Dr. Petermann, on the receipt of the French 
map, published in the ' Eevue Maritime et Coloniale,' 
reconstructed his own map, and again moved my 
principal positions nearly to the same longitude in 
which I had originally placed them. The text 
accompanying the map (' Geographische Mittheil- 
ungen/ 1863, p. 446 et seq.), contains an explana- 
tion, couched in terms which I cannot but consider 
as highly flattering to me. 

Similar confirmation of the accounts I gave of 
the cannibal Fans have been published by Captain 
Burton, the distinguished African traveller, and by 
others. The fact of the native harp possessing 
strings made of vegetable fibre — my statement of 
which roused a violent outburst of animosity against 
me — has been satisfactorily confirmed by the arrival 
of several such harps in England, and the examina- 
tion of their strings. Other disputed facts I have 
discussed in the body of the present volume ; 
such for instance as the structure and affinities of 
that curious animal the Potamogale velox, concerning 
which an eminent zoologist. Professor Allman^ has 
published a memoir, in which he shows that my 
critic was wrong, and I was right. With regard 



PREFACE. IX 

to the accounts I gave of the existence of several 
distinct varieties, if not species, of chimpanzee, in 
the present absence amongst naturalists of a definite 
criterion of what constitutes a species, I must con- 
tent myself by repeating that the negroes always 
distinguish these different kinds, and zoologists 
have published scientific descriptions of more than 
one species, considered distinct, from other parts of 
"Western Tropical Africa. 

Concerning the gorilla, the greatest of all the 
wonders of Western Equatorial Africa, I must refer 
my readers to the body of the present volume for the 
additional information I have been able to gather, 
during my last journey^ concerning this formidable 
ape. It was not my object on the present journey 
to slaughter unnecessarily these animals, as the prin- 
cipal museums in civilized countries were already 
well supplied with skins and skeletons, but I devoted 
myself, when in the district inhabited by the gorilla, 
to the further study of its habits, and the effort to 
obtain the animal alive and send it to England ; hop- 
ing that the observation of its actions in life would 
enable persons in England to judge of the accuracy 
of the description I gave of its disposition and habits ; 
at least to some extent, as the actions of most animals 
differ much in confinement from what they are in 
the wild state. I had the good fortune again to see 
the gorilla several times in its native wilds, and ob- 
tained several living specimens through the natives. 
Some of the statements relating to its habits, such 



X PKEFACE. 

as its association only in very small bands, I have 
found reason, on farther observation, to modify ; but 
with regard to its beating its breast when enraged, 
and the savage nature of the young animals, as 
compared with young chimpanzees, fresh observa- 
tions have confirmed my former statements. I suc- 
ceeded in shipping one live gorilla for London, but, 
to my regret, it died during the passage. 

The principal object I had in view in my last 
journey, was to make known with more accuracy 
than I had been able to do in my former one, the 
geographical features of the country, believing this 
to be the first duty of a traveller in exploring new 
regions. To enable me to do this I went through a 
course of instruction in the use of instruments, to 
enable me to fix positions by astronomi(^l observa- 
tions and compass bearings, and to ascertain the alti- 
tudes of places. I learnt also how to compute my 
observations, and test myself their correctness. It is 
for others to judge of the results of my endeavours 
in this important department of a traveller's work ; 
I can only say that I laboured hard to make my 
work as accurate as possible, and although I was 
compelled, much to my sorrow, to abandon photo- 
graphy and meteorological observations, through the 
loss of my apparatus and instruments, I was fortu- 
nately able to continue astronomical observations 
nearly to the end of my route. 

In camp at night, after my work with the sextant 
was done, I spent the still hours in noting down the 



PREFACE. XI 

observations, making three copies in as many dif- 
ferent books, entrusted to different negro porters, so 
as to lessen the risk of loss of the whole. In our 
disastrous retreat from Ashango-land one only of 
these copies escaped being thrown into the bush, and 
this was the original one in my journal, where the 
entries were made from day to day ; but it is not 
quite complete, as one volume out of five of my 
journal was lost with nearly all the rest of my outfit. 
On my return to England, the whole of these obser- 
vations were submitted by the Council of the Eoyal 
Geographical Society to Mr. Edwin Dunkin, the 
Superintendent of the Altazimuth Department at 
Grreenwich Observatory, who computed them, and 
furnished the results which are printed at the end of 
this volume, and which form the basis of the map of 
my routes now given to the public. I have thought 
it best to print also, without alteration, the original 
observations for latitude, longitude, and heights in 
the order in which they occur in my journal, and in- 
cluding a few that were incorrect. By this means 
cartographers will be able to see on how many sepa- 
rate observations a result for latitude or longitude is 
founded, and judge what degree of reliance may be 
placed upon them. I think it would be better if 
all travellers in new countries published in the 
same way, at the end of their narratives, their ori- 
ginal observations, instead of the computed results 
solely, as is generally done. Adopted positions are 
generally the mean of the results of several obser- 



Xli PKEFACE. 

vations, and unless the original data are published, 
geographers and future travellers are unable to judge 
to what degree the separate observations differed, or 
what reliance is to be placed on the observing powers 
of the earlier traveller. 

In giving to the public a much-improved map of 
the field of my African explorations south of the 
Equator, I am glad to have been able to correct the 
errors of my former one. Most of the principal posi- 
tions were there placed much too far to the east and 
north; and even those given by Dr. Petermann in 
his second map, already mentioned, prove to be a few 
miles too far in the same direction. Mr. Dunkin has 
stated, at a meeting of the Eoyal Geographical Society, 
that he considers the position of Mayolo as perfectly 
well determined by my observations : this may there- 
fore be considered a fixed point by cartographers in 
reviewing my geographical work. But I must men- 
tion that two places, to the west of Mayolo, namely, 
Niembai and Obindji, have been placed on my map 
according to a calculation of distances travelled, as I 
had taken only one observation at each place. By 
the position of Mayolo, and that of the Samba Na- 
goshi Falls, visited by me in the last journey, I have 
been able to correct greatly the course given in my 
former map, and adopted by Dr. Petermann, of the 
great Eiver Ngouyai. Unfortunately, my longitudes 
of these places render it difficult to connect my map 
with that given by Lieutenant Serval, of the Ogobai 
between Lake Anengue and the junction of the 



PREFACE. xin 

Okanda. It would appear that M. Serval has ex- 
tended the Ogobai much too far east. The second 
French expedition under Messrs. Labigot and 
Touchard, which carried the exploration of the 
Ogobai as far as the junction of the Ngouyai and 
Okanda, has probably made observations which would 
enable us to settle this doubtful part of the geography 
of the region ; but I have been informed by my 
friend M. Malte-Brun, that the results of the expe- 
dition are not yet published. 

Next to geography, I paid most attention, during 
my last expedition, to the study of the natives. My 
long experience amongst the tribes of the Fernand 
Yaz, and knowledge of the Commi and Ashira lan- 
guages, gave me some facilities in investigating the 
political state of the tribes, and comprehending their 
customs, the meaning of their legends, and so forth. 
There is no part of Africa hitherto visited by tra- 
vellers where the negro exists in a more primitive 
condition; for in the regions of the Niger and the 
Nile he has been much modified by the influences of 
Mahommedanism, in the interior of South Africa 
by the incursions of the Boers, and in Eastern Africa 
by contact with Arab traders. The descriptions I 
have given in the present volume ought therefore to 
be of some interest, as representing the negro as he 
is, undisturbed by the slave-dealing practices, the 
proselytism or the trading enterprise of other races. 

The irreparable loss of the collection of photo- 
graphs which I made myself on the earlier part of 



XIV PEEFACE. 

the journey, as related in tlie narrative, compelled 
me to have recourse to some rough pen-and-ink 
sketches in my journal, which have served as guides 
for the engravings in this volume, which have been 
drawn by competent artists under my own direction. 
The pleasing duty now remains of thanking those 
gentlemen who have encouraged me by their sym- 
pathy and aid throughout my African explorations, 
or assisted me in the preparation of the present 
volume. To the Council of the Eoyal Geographical 
Society my first thanks are due, who have adhered 
to me in spite of adverse criticism from other quar- 
ters, and who were pleased to express their satisfac- 
tion with the geographical work I have performed, 
by presenting me with a testimonial at the last 
Annual Meeting of the Society. But I feel that 
I ought especially to thank the noble-hearted Pre- 
sident of the Society, Sir Eoderick Murchison, who 
sped me on my mission with hopeful words, and 
wrote frequently to me whilst I was in Africa, 
encouraging me when I stood sorely in need of it. 
To my honoured friend. Professor Owen, I am also 
indebted, for his steadfast support, and for the 
valuable Essay on my collection of African skulls 
which enriches this volume. Other friends who 
have assisted me I have mentioned in the course 
of my narrative, amongst them Commander George, 
my kind instructor in the use of astronomical and 
surveying instruments, and M. Claudet, my master 
in photography. I ought also to express my thanks 



PKEFACB. 



XV 



to Mr. Dunkin, for the great labour and care lie 
has shown in personally computing my observations, 
and to Mr. J. R. Hind, the distinguished astronomer, 
for many acts of kindness. To Mr. Glaisher I am 
indebted for the benefit of his great experience 
in the testing of my aneroids. It was my good 
fortune, when preparing for my last expedition, to 
receive tokens of good- will from many persons, some 
of whom were personally unknown to me. I have 
mentioned in the body of the work the names of 
some of these friends ; and I must not omit to add to 
the list those of Messrs. Howard and Co., who pre- 
sented me with an ample stock of quinine, which 
proved of great service to me. 

Lastly, I have to acknowledge my great obligation 
to my friend Mr. H. W. Bates, the well-known author 
of the ' Naturalist on the River Amazons,' who has 
given me his advice and assistance in the preparation 
of my journals for publication ; and to another valued 
friend, Mr. George Bishop, under whose hospitable 
roof, on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham, 
the greater part of the present volume has been 
prepared for the press. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE VOYAGE. 

Objects of tlie Journey — Preparatory studies — Difficulties in obtatnhig a 
passage — Departure from England — Arrival off the Coast — Miss the 
mouth of the Fernand Vaz — Return up the Coast — Excitement of the 
Natives — Old acquaintances — Changes in the bar of the River — Choice 
of a settlement near Djombouai's Village — Bonfires and rejoicings on 
the river banks — Commencement of disembarkation — Dangerous state 
of the shore — The boat upset in the breakers — Saved by the Negroes — 
Loss of instruments and stores Page 1 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FERNAND VAZ. 

Outlines of the Coast region — The Ogobai — Prames of the Fernand Vaz — 
The Commi nation — Distribution of the Clans — Chief Ranpano and 
his Spells — News of arrival sent to Quengueza, King of the Rembo — 
Arrival of Quengueza — His alarm at the great wealth I had brought 
him — A pet Chimpanzee, and his departure for England — Yisit to 
Elinde and the mouth of the river — My illness — Tenderness of Ran- 
pano — King Olenga-Yombi — Grand palaver of Commi chiefs — Permis- 
sion granted me to ascend the river into the interior — Yisit to my old 
place and to Rinkimongani's grave — Superstition of the natives — The 
Bola Ivoga — Rabolo's fetich — Departure of the Mentor for England 13 



CHAPTER III. 

EXCXmSIONS IN SEARCH OF THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. 

Visit to King Olenga-Yombi — Storm on the Fernand Vaz — Land journey 

to Aniambie — First traces of Gorilla — Form of its tracks — Drunken 

orgies of the King — Magic island of Nengue Ncoma — Village of 

Nkongon Mboumba — Search of the Ipi, or great Pangolin — Its habits — 

2 



^' 



xviii CONTENTS. 

Village of Mburu Shara— Nkengo Nschiego variety of Chimpanzee- 
Bowers of the Chimpanzee — Group of Gorillas in a plantain-grove — 
Their mode of walking — ^Horrid form of monomania — Akondogo brings 
a live Gorilla— Keturn to the Fernand Vaz— Three more live Gorillas 

Account of their capture — ^Modification of opinions concerning the 

Gorilla Page 37 



CHAPTEE IV. 

START FOR THE INTERIOR. 

Arrival of a fresh supply of Scientific Instruments — The first Steamer on 
the Fernand Vaz — Preliminary trip to Goumbi — Astonishment of the 
Natives at the fire-vessel — Despatch Collections to England — Live 
Gorilla embarked for London — His habits in confinement — ^Narrow- 
escape of drowning when embarked — Preparations completed — ^Lasfc 
look at the sea — Outfit— Body-guard of Commi men — Aflecting part- 
ing scenes — I am deceived by Olenga-Yombi — The renowned doctor, 
Oune-jiou-e-niare — Arrival at Goumbi — Observations to fix latitude and 
altitude of Goumbi — Quengueza's invocation of his Forefathers — Dis- 
obedient Wives — Excessive Drought — Obindji — Opposition of Bakalai 
— Arrival of Ashira Porters — Passage of the hills to Olenda .. ... 60 



CHAPTEE V. 

VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. 

King Olenda, his great age — Preparations for the journey to the Falls — 
We cross the Ovigui — Opangano Prairie — Ndgewho Mountains — Bakalai 
Village — A flock of Gorillas in the Forest — The Louvendji Eiver — 
Dihaou and the Ashira Kambas — Navigate the Ngouyai Eiver — The 
Aviia Tribe — Village of Mandji — Eiver Scenery — Nkoumou Nabouali 
Mountains — Nami Gemba — ^Village of Luba — The Spirit of the Falls — 
Village Deity — Arrival at Fougamou, the principal Fall — Legend of 
Fougamou — Night Encampment — Eeturn to Dihaou — We sup on a 
poisonous serpent — Forced March through flooded forest to Olenda 88 



CHAPTEE VI. 

ASHIRA-LAND. 

Grand Palaver to discuss the route into the interior — I am forbidden to pass 
through the Apingi country— Messengers sent to the Chief of Otando — 
Changes in Ashira Customs— Decrease of Population— The Potamogale 



CONTENTS. xix 

velox — Its habits — My former description of this Animal — ^Visit to 
Angouka — Immense Plantation of Plantain-trees — Quarrel with Mpoto, 
nephew of Olenda — Difficulties and anxieties — First rumours of the 
Small-pox Page 114 



CHAPTEE VII. 

THE PLAGUE IN ASHIRA-LAND. 

Breaking out of the Small-pox Epidemic — Noble Conduct of Quengueza — 
Departure of Quengueza's People — Illness of the Porters — My Commi 
Body-guard refuse to leave me — Departure of part of the baggage to 
Otando-land — Quengueza returns to Goumbi — Letters from Europe — 
Death of Mpoto — Death of King Olenda — His burial — Cemetery of the 
Ademba Chiefs — Wailing for the Dead — Death of Ketonda — Arrival 
of Messengers from Mayolo — Distrust of the Natives — Trickery of 
Arangui — I am robbed by the Ashira People — Diminution of the 
Pestilence — Quengueza's message to the people of Olenda .. .. 124 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PROM OLENDA TO mItOLO. 

Departure from Ashira-land — Passage of the Ovigui — Slave Village of 
King Olenda — A Slave Chief — Difficulties with the Porters — More 
Bobberies — Illness of Macondai — Leave him behind — The Otando Eange 
of Hills — Picturesque Cascade in the Forest — Cross the Louvendji — 
More difficulties with the Porters — Hunger in the Forest — Men sent to 
Mayolo for Belief — A Night in the Forest — Myth of Atungulu Shimba 
— Koola Nut-trees — Search for Food — Meet with a Gorilla — A Hungry 
Night — Unselfish act of the Ashira — Help arrives from Mayolo — 
MpeguiNuts — Arrival in Otando-land 139 



CHAPTER IX. 

MAYOLO. 

Arrival at Mayolo — Beception by the Chief — Discovery of more Losses — 
I accuse the Ashira — Their Flight — Seizure of a Hostage — Gathering of 
the Head men of Otando — Mayolo falls ill — I am attacked by Fever — 
Great Heat and Thunderstorm — Arrival of Macondai and Igalo — Their 
Ill-treatment by the Ashira — Loss of JPhotographic Camera and 
Chemicals — Surgical Practice of the Otando — A Female Doctor — 
Matrimonial Squabbles — Mayolo's health improves — Witchcraft Ordeal 



XX CONTENTS. 

'^My Speecli to the People — Speecli of Mayolo — Curiosity of the 
Otando — A Female Duel — The Bashikouay Ants — A Precocious Thief 
— Mdyolo again falls ill — Good news from the Apono country — Asto- 
nishment of the Natives at the Musical-box and Magnets — Climate of 
Mayolo — Deposit of Dew — The OtoUcnus — Eecovery of Macondai — 
The Alumhi Fetich — Departure from Mayolo Page 156 



CHAPTER X. 

THE OTANDO AND APONO EEGION. 

Geographical Position of Mayolo — Splendour of the Constellations as seen 
from the Equatorial Eegions — The Zodiacal Light — Twinkling of the 
Stars — Meteoric Showers — The Otando and Apono Plains, or Prairies 
— The Otando People a branch of the Ashira Nation — Their Customs — 
Filing the Teeth— Tattooing— Native Dogs 203 



CHAPTEE XL 

ANTS. 

The White Ants of the Prairies — The Mushroom-hived Termes — Interior 
of their Hives — Three classes in each Community : Soldiers, Workers, 
and Chiefs — Their mode of building — The Tree Ants — Curious struc- 
ture of their Hives — Their process of constructing them — The Bark 
Ants — Curious tunnels formed by them— The Forest Ants — Large size 
of their Shelters or Hives— The stinging Black Ant 213 



CHAPTER XII. 

MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. 

Leave Mayolo — Cross the Nomba Obana Hill — ^River Dooya — Arrival at 
Mouendi — Timidity of the Inhabitants — The Chief Nchiengain — ^Ar- 
rival of Apingi Men — Loss and Eecovery of a Thermometer — Nocturnal 
Eeflections — African Story of the Sun and Moon — Smelling the White 
Man's Presents — Passage of the Ngouyai — Hippopotami and Crocodiles ; 
seasons of their scarcity and abundance — Arrival at Dilolo — Opposition 
of the Inhabitants to our entering the Tillage — Pluck of my Commi 
Boys — ^Arrival at Mokaba — ^My system of a Medicine Parade for my 
Men 230 



CONTENTS. XXI 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE MAECH THROUGH APONO-LAND. 

Mokaba — Curiosity of the People — Eenewed illness of Mayolo — ^His return 
to Otando — Nchiengain's Speecti — The Apono agree to take me to the 
Ishogo country — Description of the Apono Tribe — Their sprightly 
character — Arts — ^Weapons — Population — Description of Mokaba — 
Palm wine — Drunkenness — Ocuya Performances — Leave Mokaba — 
Kiver Dougoundo — Arrival at Igoumbie — ^Invitation from the elders 
of the village to remain there — Manners of the Ishogos — Description of 
Igoumbie — The Ishogo huts — Arrival at Yengu^, in Ishogo-land 

Page 250 

CHAPTER XIV. 

JOURNEY THROUGH ISHOGO-LAND. 

Village of the Obongos or Dwarf Negroes — Their Dwellings — Absence of 
the Inhabitants — The Elders and People of Yengu^ — Arrival of the 
Chief of Yengue — ^War Dance of the Aponos — Ceremony of the Mpaza 
— An uproarious Night — Good conduct of the Apono Porters — The 
Kiver Ogoulou — Geographical Position and Altitude of Yengud — Pass- 
age of the Ogoulou — March to the Plateau of Mokenga — Eastern Limits 
of Ishogo-land — Quembila, King of Mokenga — Palavers — Contention 
between Chiefs for the possession of the " Ibamba " — ^Panio in Mokenga 
— Ke-adjustment of Baggage — Ishogo Porters . . .. 269 



CHAPTER XV. 

FROM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. 

The Ishogos — Their Modes of dressing the Hair — Ishogo Villages — 
Picturesque Scenery — Granitic Boulders — Grooved Eocks — Leave 
Mokenga — Cross the Dongon — Continued Ascent — Mount Migoma 
— The Kiver Odiganga — Boundaries of Ishogo and Ashango-lands — 
Arrival at Magonga — Plateau of Madombo — Mutiny of Ishogo Porters 
— An unfriendly Village — Elevated Country — Arrival and friendly 
Reception at Niembouai — The King's Wives — Prejudices of the Commi 
Men — Hear of a large Kiver towards the East — The Ashangui Tribe — 
The Obongos 285 



XXU CONTENTS. 

OHAPTEK XYI. 

ASHANGO-LAND. 

Cloudy Skies of Ashango-land— G-rand Palaver— Ishogo Porters dismissed 
— Th.e Village Idol — Religious Eites — ^Visit to an Obongo Village — 
Abodes and Habits of tbe Dwarf Pace — Measurements of their Heigbt 
— River Ouano — Singular Ferry— Mount Mogiama — Its Altitude — 
Village of Mongon, its Latitude, Longitude, and Height above the 
Sea-level — ^Village of Niembouai Olomba — Its picturesque Site — Ba- 
shikouay Ants — Ascend Mount Birogou Bouanga — Its Altitude — More 
Troubles — Robbed by the Ashango Porters — Summary Measures — 
Resume our March — Arrive at Mobana — Departure of a Bride — Arrival 
at Mouaou Kombo Page 311 



CHAPTEK XYII. 

FATAL DISASTERS AT MOUAOU KOMBO. 

Unpromising state of affairs on arriving at Mouaou Kombo — Rakombo is 
threatened — Obstacles raised by the Villagers — Fair promises of the 
Chief — A Secret Meeting of the Villagers — Demands of the People — 
"We leave the Village — Night Encampment in the Forest — Threats and 
Promises from the next Village — Invited to return to Mouaou — Re- 
conciliation — Arrival of a hostile Deputation from the next Village — 
A Man accidentally Shot 344: 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

EETEEAT FROM ASHANGO-LAND. 

A Palaver proposed to settle the Death of the Man — A Woman killed — 
The War Cry ! — Retreat commenced — Igala and myself wounded with 
Poisoned Arrows — Narrow Escape of Macondai and Rebouka — We are 
closely pursued by the Natives — Collections and Note-books thrown 
into the Bush — ^We make a Stand — Two Men Shot — Pursuit continued 
— I am wounded a second time — Igalo shoots the Bowman — We make 
another Stand— Cross the Bembo— Pass Mobana — Still pursued— Make 
a final Stand— The Pursuers driven off at last— A Halt— The Party 
all collected together— Sleep in the Fores t^Night-March through 
Niembouai — Friendly conduct of the Head Chief — We are well 
received at a Plantation — Arrival of Magouga — We continue the March 
to Ishogo-land " 354 



CONTENTS. xxiu 



CHAPTER XIX. 

JOURNEY TO THE COASr. 

Arrival at Mongon — Magouga recounts the Story of our Adventures to the 
Villagers — Eeach Niembouai — Mistrust of the People — Eestitution of 
Stolen Property — Magouga consents to guide us to Mokenga — Eeach 
the last of the Ashango Yillages — Passage into Ishogo-land, and out of 
danger of Pursuit — Magouga's Diplomacy — Arrival at Mokenga — 
Friendly Eeception— Magouga delivers us safely into the hands of the 
Villagers — My Men exaggerate the Deeds of Valour they had performed 
— Arrival at Yengue — Project of descending the Ogoulou in a Canoe — 
Lose our Way — Distant View of the Apono Prairie — Igoumbie — 
Eeach Mokaba — The Ngouyai — March to Nchiengain's — Cross the Eiver 
— Nchiengain's Village — Eeception at Mayolo — Operation of the African 
Law of Inheritance — ^IVIarch to Ashira-land — Alarm of the Ashira 
People — Avoid Olenda — Sojourn at Angouka's — Cross the Ofoubou — 
Quengueza's Encampment — Sorrows of the old King — Devastations of 
the Plague at Goumbi — Quengueza wants to go to the White Man's 
Country — Descend the Eiver — Arrival at " Plateau " — Gratitude of the 
Commi People — Departure for England Page 371 



CHAPTER XX. 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. 

Great Forest of Equatorial Africa — Scanty Population — Scarcity or absence 
of large African Animals — Hilly Eanges — River Systems — The Ogobai 
— French exploring expeditions — Amount of rain — Seasons — Eainy 
climate of Central Equatorial Africa — Temperature — Heat of the sun's 
rays — Coolness of the forest shades 406 



CHAPTER XXL 

ETHNOLOGY. 

Isolation of the tribes in the interior of Western Equatorial Africa — Scan- 
tiness of the Population — Divisions of tribes and clans — Patriarchal 
form of Government — Comparison of Customs between Western Equa- 
torial tribes and Eastern — Laws of inheritance — Cannibalism — ^Migra- 
tions always towards the West — Decrease of Population — Its Causes — 
The African race doomed to extinction 424 



xxiv CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX I. 

Descriptions of Three Skulls of Western Equatorial Africans — Fan, Ashira, 
and Femand Vaz — witli some Admeasurements of the rest of the Col- 
lection of Skulls, transmitted to the British Museum from the Femand 
Yaz,hyP. B. Du Chaillu. By Professor Owen, F.E.S., &c. Page 439 

APPENDIX II. 

Instruments used in the Expedition to Ashango-land — Observations for 
Latitude— Observations for Lunar Distances — Heights of Stations — 
Synopsis of Eesults 461 

APPENDIX III. 

Comparative Table of Words in several Languages of Western Equatorial 
Africa 498 



LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. 

Eetreat from Ashango-land Frofdispiece. 

Potamogale Velox Title. 

Ipi, or Scaly Ant-Eater To /ace p. 43 

Otaitai, or Porter's Basket „ 84 

Group of Bakalai „ 91 

Gorillas surprised in the Forest „ 92 

Prisoner in Nchogo „ 137 

Nests of Mushroom Ants and Tree Ants „ 214 

Nest of Forest Ants „ 224 

Mokaba — Apono Village „ 250 

Ishogo Houses, with ornamented Doors „ 264 

Ishogo Fashions — Oblique Chignon „ 285 

Ishogo Fashions — Horizontal Chignon „ 286 

Ishogo Fashions — Vertical Chignon „ 288 

Ishogo Fashions — Male Head-Dress „ 289 

Ishogo Loom and Shuttle „ 291 

Approach to the Camp of the Obongo Dwarfs „ 316 

An African Group ,, 329 

Fan Warriors. From a French Photograph „ 424 

Fan Woman and Child. From a French Photograph . . .. „ 431 

Skull, Male, Fernand Vaz „ 441 

Skull, Male, Fan Tribe ,, 445 

Skull, aged Female, Fan Tribe „ 448 

Map At the end. 



JOURNEY IN ASHANGO-LAND. 



CHAPTEK I. 

THE VOYAGE. 

Objects of the Journey — Preparatory studies — Difficulties in obtaining a 
passage — Departure from England — Arrival off the Coast — Miss the 
mouth of the Fernand Yaz — Eeturn up the Coast — Excitement of the 
Natives — Old acquaintances — Changes in the bar of the Eiver — Choice 
of a settlement near Djombouai's Village — Bonfires and rejoicings on 
the river banks — Commencement of disembarkation — Dangerous state 
of the shore — The boat upset in the breakers — Saved by the Negroes — 
Loss of instruments and stores. 

Eaklt in 1863, after tliree years' recreation in the 
civilized countries of Europe and North America, I 
began to entertain the idea of undertaking a new 
journey into Western Equatorial Africa. My main 
object in this journey was to attempt to penetrate still 
further into the interior than I had done hitherto, 
taking the route of the Fernand Yaz River, the starting 
point of my principal expedition in the former journey . 
I had also a strong desire to ^x with scientific 
accuracy the geographical positions of the places I 
had already discovered, and to vindicate by fresh 
observations, and the acquisition of further specimens, 
the truth of the remarks I had published on the eth- 
nology and natural history of the country. Beyond 



2 THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 

this, there was the vague hope of being able to reach, 
in the far interior, some unknown western tributary 
of the Nile, and to descend by it to the great river, 
and thence to the Mediterranean. 

To qualify myself for such a task, I went through 
a course of instruction* in the use of instruments, to 
enable me to project my route by dead-reckoning 
and astronomical observations, and supplied^ myself 
with a complete outfit for this purpose, as well as for 
taking the altitudes of places above the sea-level. I 
also learnt practical photography,*}* and laid in a store 
of materials necessary to make 2,000 pictures, having 
felt the importance of obtaining faithful representa- 
tions of the scenery, natives, and animals of these 
remote countries. In natural history I did not expect 
to find many novelties, near the coast, at least in the 
larger animals, but I took pains to learn what was 
most likely to be interesting to zoologists, and hoped 
to be able to make many discoveries in the far 
interior. Besides materials for preserving large 
animals, I provided myself with a stock of boxes, 
glass tubes, &c., in order to collect insects, worms, 
and the like classes of animals, which I had neglected 
in my former journey. I also took fifty pounds of 
arsenic for the preservation of stuffed specimens. 
My hope of traversing the whole of Equatorial Africa 
to the head of the Nile, although acting as a strong 
incitement to me, was kept secret, except from a few 



* Under Staff-Commander C. George, Map Curator, Eoyal Geographical 
Society ; to whom I am, besides, much indebted for the trouble he took in 
selecting instruments for me, and for his care in testing them. 

t Under M. Ciaudet, and his son M. Henri Claudet. 



Chap. I. DIFFICULTY IN OBTAmmC A PASSAGE. 3 

intimate friends. I was resolved, however, that if 
the achievement of this splendid feat should be denied 
me, I would spare no effort in advancing as far to- 
wards the east as was practicable, and in obtaining 
accurate information regarding those portions of the 
country which I might be able to explore. 

There is no direct trade between England — or, 
indeed, between any part of Europe or America — and 
the Fernand Yaz, and this gave rise to the chief 
difiSculty I had to encounter at the outset. How was 
I to get there ? My outfit was too large to think of 
transhipping it from one port to another. I must 
here remind my readers that the mouth of the Fer- 
nand Yaz lies about 110 miles to the south of the 
Gaboon, which is the principal centre of trade in 
Western Equatorial Africa. What little trade there 
is is carried on by native boats, which pass from the 
Graboon to the negro villages on the banks of the 
Fernand Yaz, by way of the narrow channels of the 
delta of the Ogobai River, thus avoiding the detour 
round Cape Lopez. The negro tribes of the Fernand 
Yaz have never had much communication with the 
white man ; there is no permanent trading settlement 
there, although sometimes the captain of a ship may 
come with his vessel and put up a factory for a short 
time ; indeed, I must add that I was the first to ascend 
the river and make known its geography, its in- 
habitants, and its productions. I chose this river as 
the starting-point of my new exploration because I 
was already well known to the inhabitants of its 
banks, through my long previous residence amongst 
them ; they loved me, and my life was safe in their 



4 THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 

hands, and having acquired some influence over them, 
I could depend upon obtaining an escort to enable 
me to advance into the interior. I do not know anv 
other point of the West African coast, between the 
Congo and the Niger, where I, or indeed any white 
man, could have any chance of penetrating more 
than a short distance into the interior. After making 
some inquiries, I found my best course would be to 
freight a vessel specially to take me to the Fernand 
Yaz. I therefore engaged with the owners of the 
schooner Mentor^ Captain Vardon, a little vessel of 
less than 100 tons measurement, and all preparations 
being complete, embarked on board of her at Grraves- 
end on the 6th of August, 1863. 

Although I looked forward with great pleasure to 
my new journey of exploration, I left old England 
with a heavy heart. The land where I had received 
so much kindness and sympathy, so much genuine 
hospitality, and where I had made so many true 
friends, had become to me a second home. I could 
not repress the feeling of sadness which came over 
me, and the pang I felt at parting was the greater 
from the thought that I might never return from 
an undertaking beset with such various perils. 

We were detained with a crowd of other vessels off 
Deal, for several days, by a strong wind from the 
south-west. I was much struck, part of the time, by 
the strong contrast between the weather we had at 
sea and that which prevailed on shore. With us the 
wind was blowing strong and the sea rough, whilst 
on land the sun was shining beautifully on the golden 
corn-fields, and the reapers were at work gathering 



Chap. I. AEEIYAL OFF THE COAST. 5 

in the bountiful harvest. My ardent longing to be 
on shore with them and have a last look at the happy 
land of England was one day gratified, for Mr. Dom- 
brain, the ship-missionary of Deal, kindly took the 
captain and myself to the town, and we had a charm- 
ing drive through the country lanes. I never enjoyed 
the country so much. Every face we met seemed so 
pleasant, and Nature seemed so tranquil ; I felt that 
England was more than ever dear to me. 

I will not weary my readers by a description of 
our voyage to the West Coast. As far as the weather 
and the captain were concerned, it was a pleasant one. 
We arrived at Accra, a British settlement, east of 
Sierra Leone, in the Gulf of Guinea, on the 20th of 
September. According to my agreement with the 
owners of the vessel, the Mentor ought to have sailed 
direct from this place to the Fernand Vaz, but I now 
made the discovery that she was ordered to call at 
Lagos. At this unhealthy spot I declined the invita- 
tion to go ashore. We left it on the 2nd of October, 
and after a few days pleasant sailing came in sight of 
the Commi Coast on the 8th of the same month. 

The part of the African coast in the neighbourhood 
of the mouth of the Fernand Vaz has a monotonous 
aspect as viewed from the sea. A long line of 
country, elevated only a few feet above the sea-level, 
stretches away towards the south, diversified here and 
there by groups of trees, and enlivened only at inter- 
vals of a few miles by a cluster of palm-clad huts of 
the natives, amongst which is always conspicuous the 
big house which the villagers construct for the " fac- 
tory " that they are always expecting to be established 



6 THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 

at their village. The mouth of the river itself is very 
difficult to discover. In my former journey it was 
recognisable only by the white surf which foamed 
over its bar, and by the flocks of fish-eating birds 
hovering in the air above it. The bar, however, 
seemed now to have shifted, for we passed by it with- 
out perceiving it. 

We sailed along the coast the same evening, and, 
after anchoring for the night, still continued the same 
course, under light sail, the next morning, looking 
out for some native canoe to come to us, and tell us 
our whereabouts. At length a canoe put off from the 
shore and came alongside, and we then discovered that 
we were several miles to the south of the Fernand 
Yaz. The head man of the boat recognised me, and 
thinking at first that I had come to establish a 
trading post at his village, could not contain his 
delight. He knew a few words of English, and 
shouted out : " Put down the anchor ; plenty ivory ; 
load the ship in a fortnight ! " It was a wretched 
take-down for the poor fellow to learn that I intended 
to establish my head-quarters in a rival village on 
the banks of the river. He wanted to make me 
believe that Ranpano, the chief of my former place, 
was dead, and that his village was scattered — this 
was the old African trick, which I knew too well to 
be deceived by. The fellow, in his spite and dis- 
appointment, on leaving us went out of his way to 
prevent other canoes, from coming to us, and so we 
were unable to get a pilot. 

As we returned up the coast, we saw the natives 
running about from house to house along the beach 



Chap. I. OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 7 

in great excitement. In every village the big flag 
kept by the chiefs for this purpose was hoisted on 
the top of a long pole to attract the white man ashore 
to trade, and at night a line of bonfires shone along 
the coast. 

At length, on the morning of the 10th, I recog- 
nised the country near the month of the river. We 
shortened sail, and two canoes soon put off and made 
for the vessel. In the first, as it approached, I recog- 
nised my old friend Adjouatonga, a chief of one of the 
villages belonging to the clan Adjiena, which occupies 
the mouth of the river. He climbed up the vessel's side, 
and after shaking hands with the captain, advanced 
towards me to do the same. On my turning round to 
him, he stepped back in astonishment, and exclaimed — 
" Are you Ohaillie, or are you his spirit ? Have you 
come from the dead ? Tell me quick, for I don't know 
whether I am to believe my own eyes ; perhaps I am 
getting a kende (fool)." The good fellow hugged 
me in a transport of joy, but so tightly and so long 
that I wished his friendship had been a little less 
enthusiastic, especially as his skin was dripping with 
a strong mixture of oil and perspiration. In the 
second canoe came another old friend, Sholomba, 
nephew of the chief, Eanpano, of my own village 
of former days. In short, I was surrounded by a 
crowd of old acquaintances, and had to listen to 
a confused account of the chief events that had 
happened since my departure, related by half-a-dozen 
eager informants. 

The next subject to be considered was how we were 
to get ashore. Sholomba assured me that the mouth 



8 THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 

of ihe Fernand Yaz had changed much for the worse 
since I had left, and that it would be less dangerous 
to run a canoe through the surf to the beach than to 
attempt an entry into the mouth of the river. It 
was now the beginning of the rainy season, when the 
winds are less rough than in the dry season, but the 
surf, under the influence of the steady south-west 
winds, was still frightful. However, the first landing, 
in Adjouatonga's boat, which was much steadier than 
the rest, was made with safety. The frail canoe was 
skilfully directed towards a promising roller at the 
right moment, and we were carried on its back with 
lightening speed to the beach, where we were snatched 
up by the natives assembled to meet us. After this 
hazardous landing, I was hurried along amidst a crowd 
of several hundred savages, all dancing and shouting 
with frantic joy, across the sandy tongue of land to 
the banks of the Fernand Yaz, where canoes were 
ready to take us up the river to the village of 
Ranpano. 

Although I had been absent only four years — 
years so full of events to me ! — time had wrought 
great changes in the scene of my former adventures. 
The mouth of the river had altered so much that I 
scarcely knew it again. The long, sandy, reed- 
covered spit, which formerly projected three miles 
from the southern point of the river's mouth, had 
disappeared, and the sea had washed up the sand so 
much on the northern side that the village of Elinde, 
whose chief, Sangala, had given me so much trouble in 
former times, had become untenantable, and the people 
had removed. Many little islands had also been sub- 



Ckap. I. CHOICE OF A SETTLEMENT. 9 

merged or washed away, and I no longer saw those 
flocks of sea birds which formerly frequented the 
locality. Paddling up the stream we came to my old 
settlement, which I had called Washington; it was 
deserted and in ruins, a few loose bamboos and rotting 
poles alone remained to show me where it stood. The 
house of my honest old friend, Einkimongani, was 
there, looking like a wreck, for this excellent fellow 
had gone to his rest and his family was scattered. 

After a brief survey of the altered state of 
the country, I resolved to fix my new quarters 
at a little village near the residence of Djom- 
bouai, two miles above my last place : the situ- 
ation was a good one, and, besides, it would con- 
ciliate the prejudices of the Commi, who opposed 
my settlement at the old spot on account of the 
suspicion of witchcraft which attached to it, and 
which had increased since the death of Einkimongani. 
Meantime, the news spread that I had arrived in the 
country, and for several days people came trooping 
in by land and water to see their old friend, and the 
stores of good things he had brought with him. Ean- 
pano was away from home, on the Ogobai Eiver, but 
messengers were sent to him to hasten his return. I 
soon felt that I had returned to wild life. At night 
bonfires were lit, and the crowd of half-dressed and 
rude, but good-humoured, savages danced around 
them, and dinned my ears with their monotonous 
drumming and songs. 

It was now necessary to return on board the 

schooner, and arrange the mode of disembarkation of 

my extensive outfit and stock of goods. As the 
3 



10 ' THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 

month of the river had become so unsafe, from the 
breaking up of the sandy spit, and as no one knew 
the direction of the deep channels- — for the whole 
breadth of the mouth of the river was one unin- 
terrupted line of breakers — we resolved to land 
everything on the beach through the surf. But on 
some days the breakers were so bad, continuing all 
day long without a single lull, that it was impossible 
to do anything. 

On the 15th of October we made a commencement. 
Three native canoes were brought alongside, and 
I began by loading them with my most valuable 
articles. In one of them I placed all my scientific 
instruments, sextants, chronometers, prismatic com- 
passes, barometers, &c., besides five large Greneva 
musical boxes (intended as presents to the native 
chiefs), and five barrels of salt meat, a case containing 
1,500 rifle bullets, a box of medicines, and many other 
things. Captain Yardon and myself embarked in 
this boat on account of the value of its cargo, and 
away we went amidst the cheers of the dusky 
paddlers. 

The two other canoes took the surf first. The 
rollers were terrific, and the boats seemed buried in 
the seething spray without a chance of coming out of 
it safely, but they reached the shore without up- 
setting. The captain himself had misgivings as to 
the result of our venture. I advised him to put on 
his life-belt, but in the excitement of the moment 
he neglected the precaution. We now came near the 
ranges of breakers, and our only chance of safety was 
to ride on the back of one of those smoother rollers 



Chap. 1. BOAT UPSET BY THE BKEAKEES. , 11 

which from time to time swelled up and arched 
gently over, but with headlong speed, towards the 
shore. We had not, however, the good fortune to be 
borne by it in safety ; our boatmen, in their great 
anxiety to avoid a mishap, were not venturesome 
enough, they waited a few moments too long. In- 
stead of carrying us onward, the huge wave broke 
over our canoe, upsetting it and hurling us to a 
distance away from it. Heavy, short breakers now 
succeeded each other with awful rapidity ; the sea all 
around became one mass of foaming billows ; and in 
a few moments we were almost exhausted with the 
buffetings we received. The negroes who had formed 
the crew of the canoe, most of whom were my own 
" boys," companions of my former expedition, swam 
towards me, and with great exertions kept me from 
sinking. They assisted me to divest myself of my 
shoes and my coat, the pockets of which were filled 
with small weighty articles, and as I became weaker, 
through the effects of drinking so much salt water, 
they swam under me and buoyed me up with their 
own bodies. I caught a glimpse of poor Captain 
Yardon at a distance from me, struggling with the 
waves ; the men had devoted all their attentions to 
me, so I shouted to some of them to go and help him. 
Meantime, several unsuccessful attempts were made 
by the negroes ashore to launch canoes to the rescue, 
but they were all swamped one after the other. No- 
thing could be done until the tumult of the waves 
subsided ; for after the breakers have spent their fury 
there is usually a lull, and it is during these lulls, 
which are, however, very uncertain and limited in 



12 THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 

their duration, that the only chances occur of reaching 
this difficult shore. When the sea is rough, in the 
height of the dry season, these lulls do not occur for 
days together. A favourable moment at length 
arrived ; a canoe reached us, and we were delivered 
from our perilous situation. 

This was the fifth time during my experience of 
this coast that I had been upset in the breakers, and 
saved by the exertions of these faithful negroes. 
After landing, the magnitude of the loss which I had 
sustained presented itself with full force to my mind. 
All my astronomical instruments were spoilt by the 
salt water, and with them the power of carrying out 
the principal object of my journey. There was no 
help for it but to submit to a weary delay, whilst a 
second set was sent for from England. 

As soon as I reached the shore, I found myself 
surrounded by the blacks ; the women being con- 
spicuous by their sympathies. A general shout arose 
— ''Who are the people who are jealous of us, de- 
siring the death of our white man ? " 

In this country all misfortunes are attributed to 
some evil influence, bewitching the sufferer ; and 
they referred to the jealousy of some neighbouring 
village, the catastrophe from which I had so narrowly 
escaped. 



CHAPTEE II. 

THE FEKNAND VAZ. 

OutlineiJ of tlie Coast region — The Ogobai — Prairies of the Fernand Vaz — 
The Commi nation — Distribution of the Clans — Chief Eanpano and 
his Spells — News of arrival sent to Quengueza, King of the Eemho — 
Arrival of Quengueza — His alarm at the great wealth I had brought 
him — A pet Chimpanzee, and his departure for England — Visit to 
Elinde and the mouth of the river — My illness — Tenderness of Ean- 
pano — King Olenga-Yombi — Grand palaver of Commi chiefs — Permis- 
sion granted me to ascend the river into the interior — Visit to my old 
place and to Einkimongani's grave — Su]Derstition of the natives — The 
Bdla Ivoga — Eabolo's fetich — Departure of the Mentor for England. 

In my former work on Equatorial Africa, I gave 
my readers a short account of the neighbourhood of 
the Fernand Vaz and of the natives who inhabit this 
part of the West African coast. The country on 
both sides the river, which flows for some forty miles 
nearly parallel to the sea-shore, is for the most part 
level and of little elevation. Between the river and 
the sea the plain is sandy, and covered with a grassy 
and shrubby vegetation, with here and there a cluster 
of trees, and often a fringe of palm-trees by the river 
side. Travelling southward from the mouth of the 
river the " islands " of trees become larger, and unite 
to form a considerable forest, which contains many 
timber-trees of great size and beauty. ' This is to- / 
wards Cape St. Catherine, where, between the river j 
and the sea, lies the inhospitable jungle which forms 



14 THE FERNAND YAZ. Chap. II. 

the principal home of the gorilla, of which I shall 
have more to say presently. 

Towards the north stretches the delta of the great 
Ogobai River, a much larger stream than the Fernand 
Vaz, with its network of channels densely fringed 
with mangrove-trees. The country on the right 
bank of the Fernand Vaz is thickly wooded, and 
consists principally of mangrove swamps. Thus, on 
one side of the broad sluggish stream, lies a tract 
of dense woodland, and, on the other, an expanse of 
open prairie. The Ogobai is the only West African 
river at present known, between the Niger and the 
Congo, which rises far in the interior and breaks 
through the great coast range of mountains. One 
of the channels from the Ogobai combines with the 
Fernand Yaz a few miles from its mouth. About 
forty miles up stream the bed of the Fernand Vaz 
becomes contracted ; higher up, wooded hills hem 
it in on both sides — the portals of the mountainous 
and picturesque African interior, and the river 
changes its name to Rembo, meaning tlie River j??ar 
excellence. 

The prairies of the Fernand Vaz are not unhealthy. 
During the dry season, from June to September, a 
steady, strong, and cool sea-breeze blows over the 
land, without, however, raising dunes or sandy hil- 
locks of the beautiful white sand which forms the 
soil of the prairie. All the pools and marshes dry 
up ; and, before the continued dryness has parched 
up the herbage, the aspect is that of an extensive 
English park, especially when in the cool hours of 
early morning a herd of wild cattle (Bos brachy- 



Chap. H. THE COMMI TKIBE. 15 

ceros) or a troop of antelopes, grazing by a wood- 
side in the distance, remind one, for the moment, 
of the cattle and deer of more cultivated scenes. But 
as the dry season continues, the grass dries up or 
becomes burnt, and the country then wears a more 
desolate aspect : the sky is generally overcast. In- 
numerable flocks of marabouts come to lay their eggs 
on the prairies ; the prodigious number of these birds 
and their sudden appearance are quite astounding. 
In the wet season the numerous pools and marshy 
places afford another attraction, for they teem with 
life; and I used to notice, especially,. the quantity of 
eel-like fishes which appeared in a mysterious manner 
almost as soon as the pools began to form, they 
having no doubt buried themselves in the mud and 
passed the dry season in a dormant state. Flocks of 
sand-pipers trot along the sandy margins of the rivers 
and pools, and numbers of gulls, terns, shear-waters, 
and pelicans enliven the scene with their movements 
and their cries. The plain along the banks of the 
river is dotted with villages of the great Commi tribe 
of negroes, whose plantations, however, are on the 
opposite wooded side of the Fernand Vaz, and also 
along the banks of the ISTpoulounay channel, as the 
sandy soil of the plain is unfitted for bananas, sugar- 
cane, and other cultivated plants and trees. Each 
village is under the patriarchal government of its 
hereditary chief, and all are nominally subject to the 
king of the tribe residing at Aniambie, formerly a 
large village on the sea-shore near Cape St. Cathe- 
rine, but now reduced to a few dilapidated huts. 
The king lives on his plantation. 



16 THE FEENAND VAZ. Chap. II. 

The clan of the Commi to which I was attached 
(Abogo) had several villages occupying the banks of 
the river for a few miles near its mouth. Its present 
chief — at least the chief of the river-side villagers — 
was my old friend Eanpano, a slow, phlegmatic negro, 
with a pleasant expression of countenance and good 
honest intentions. The quality in Eanpano for which 
he was most lauded by the negroes was his habit of 
going to sleep when he was drunk, instead of quar- 
relling. His authority in the clan was less, how- 
ever, than that of Olenga-Yombi, the superior chief 
or king of the Commi tribe, which inhabits the 
Eliva, or Fernand Yaz district. 

The distribution of the population comprised in a 
clan of these African tribes presents some curious 
features ; for instance, the people imder the imme- 
diate authority of Olenga-Yombi live near the sea- 
coast, about thirty miles to the south of the villages 
of Eanpano ; thus they are separated, by numerous 
villages belonging to other clans, from 1;he rest of 
their clan-relations. The head chiefship had be- 
longed to the family of Olenga-Yombi for many 
generations, and it shows the respect these primitive 
negroes entertain for hereditary rank that they con- 
tinue to acknowledge the sovereignty of the present 
representative of the title, although the villages 
under his immediate authority have declined greatly 
in population and influence. 

If I could succeed in preserving the friendship of 
these two men and that of Quengueza, the powerful 
chief of Goumbi, eighty miles further up the river, 
my objects in coming to the country would most 



Chap. II. CHIEF RANPANO AND HIS SPELLS. 17 

likely be attained, and I should not only meet with 
no political obstacle, but have all the assistance the 
coast tribes could give me to enable me to penetrate 
into the interior. I had brought goods for the trade- 
loving Commi, to exchange with them for the produce 
of their country, in order to secure their good will. 
The people of the West Coast have no consideration 
for any one but a trader, and even amongst them- 
selves a man is more respected for his trading goods 
than for the territory or land that he possesses. My 
first object, therefore, was to settle myself for a few 
weeks amongst them, and cultivate the friendship o± 
the people and their chiefs. I sent Sholomba up the 
river to apprise Quengueza of my arrival, and mean- 
time went to pay my court to Eanpano, who had just 
arrived from the Ogobai. 

I knew that Eanpano had arrived during my 
absence on board the schooner, and I felt vexed that 
he was not amongst the number of those who waited 
for me on the beach when the accident occurred. I 
now learnt that he was in a hut at no great distance. 
Thither I went, and found the fat, grey-headed old 
fellow sitting motionless, with grave countenance, 
over a bundle of fetiches or mondahs, muttering his 
spells. I drew myself up, tryiBg to look haughty, and 
reproached him for his indifference to the fate of his 
old friend, knowing, as he did, the dangers of passing 
the surf at this season. To all this he remained 
immoveable as a stone, and replied, pointing to his 
fetiches, " My white man die in the water ? never, 
whilst I am alive ! How could it be ? " and, looking 
round at his people, he repeated, " How could it be?" 



18 THE FEKNAND VAZ. Chap. H. 

I let the old man welcome me in Ms own way. Even 
his gloomy superstition could not in the end destroy 
the natural benevolence of his disposition. 

One night shortly after my arrival, after I had 
retired to bed in the hut lent to me by the negroes, 
I heard the sound of the native bugle on the river, 
and the songs of a multitude of paddlers. It was 
King Quengueza, who had arrived for the purpose of 
welcoming me back to his country. I got up at 
once, and found at the door the venerable chief; 
who received me with open arms, declaring that he 
could not go to sleep until he had embraced me, and 
had assured me of his enduring affection. When 
I despatched Sholomba with a canoe to fetch him, 
to prevent any doubt on his part, and having nothing 
else to send him at the time, I sent him a bottle of 
brandy, the sight of which convinced him at once 
that it was I and no other. I was truly glad to see 
this noble old chief, the King of the Rembo, or 
Upper River. He was a man of great and wide 
influence, not only on account of his hereditary rank, 
but also from the energy and dignity of his character. * 
He was fond of Europeans, but I could never induce ^ 
him to wear in public the fine European clothes I 
gave him ; he had a firm idea that he should die if he 
put on any dress, as he was still in mourning for his 
brother, who had died several years before I made 
the old chief's acquaintance. I felt and still feel the. 
warmest friendship towards this stern, hard-featured_ 
old man ; and, in recalling his many good qualities, 
cannot bring myself to think of him as an untutored 
savage. 



Chap. II. AEEIVAL OF QUENGUEZA. 19 

Next day Quengueza brought me as a present a 
very fine goat, the largest I had ever seen in Africa. 
Goats are regal presents in this part of the continent, 
and QnengTieza had reared the one he brought with 
the express intention of giving it to me, if I shonld 
fulfil my promise of returning from the white man's 
country. Our formal meeting next day was an im- 
portant one ; and I chose the opportunity to renew 
our pact of friendship. 

After the first cordial greetings were over, I told 
him, in a set speech, how I had been received in 
America and Europe, and how his name, and tho 
great service he had rendered me in enabling me to 
penetrate into the far interior, had become widely 
known among the nations of white men. I also told 
him, in a low whisper, that I had brought from one 
of his well-wishers in England a present of a chest- 
full of fine things.* The old man rose in his turn, 
and made an eloquent reply. With the figurative 
politeness of a negro chief^ he assured me that his 
town, his forests, his slaves, and his wives were mine 
(he was quite sincere with regard to the last), that 
henceforth he should have no will of his own, but 
that I might do whatever I chose, that " my belly 
should be full every day," meaning that I should 
never be hungry, and, what was of more importance, 
he would assist me with all his influence, and even 
accompany me, in my proposed journey towards the 
interior, quietly adding, in a tone not to be heard 

* My friend, Mr. Jolin Murray, of Albemarle Street, gave me £50 for 
the purpose of purchasing suitable presents for Quengueza and other 
chiefs. 



20 THE FERNAND VAZ. Chap. II. 

by the bystanders, *' If you love me, do not say a 
word to any one tbat you have brought me any 
presents." 

During the interview I showed Quengueza, amongst 
other things, a copy of my book ' Adventures in 
Equatorial Africa,' and pointed out to him the plate 
which represents him and myself seated in the palaver 
house of Goumbi. It delighted him amazingly : he 
shouted, "Am I then known so well in the white 
man's country that they make my picture ? " Then 
turning with an air of ineffable contempt to the 
crowd around us, and pointing to the engraving, he 
said, " Pigs, look here ! what do you know about the 
white man ? Quengueza is the white man's friend ; 
what would you be without me ? " He asked me 
who made the book. I told him it was the same 
good friend who had sent him such beautiful presents. 
He did not forget this ; and the next day he put into 
my hands a handsome leopard's skin, with the request 
that I would send it to the ntangani (white man) 
who had put him in a book and sent him so many 
things to do him good. 

Conforming to his wish for strict secresy regarding 
the presents, I appointed a day on which to receive 
him alone. He chose an hour in the afternoon when 
most of his people were asleep, enjoying the usual 
siesta. He came accompanied by a select party of 
relatives and wives, for kings in these parts must 
always be accompanied by some retinue or escort. 
But his Majesty was determined not to let his people 
see what I was going to give him. Touching me 
gently with his elbow, he told me, in a whisper, to 



Chap. II. QUENGUEZA AND HIS PEESENTS. 21 

send them all away, and not to let any of them come 
in. Entering my hut alone, he closed the door, and, 
sitting down, told me that he was ready to see the 
presents I had brought him. 

The first thing that I displayed before his admiring 
eyes was the coat of a London beadle, made expressly 
to fit his tall figure, and, to please his taste, it was of 
the most glaring colours, blue, with yellow fringe, 
lined with red. There was also a splendid plush 
waistcoat. As his Majesty does not wear trowsers 
those articles did not form part of the suit, any more 
than did a shirt. 

'' Let us try them on," said the king, in a whisper ; 
but, before doing so, he went to the door to make 
sure that no one was peeping in. Having put on 
the robes, and taking in his hand the beadle's staff, 
which I had not omitted to bring also, he asked for a 
looking-glass, in which he admired himself vastly ; 
whilst I completed the costume by placing on his 
head my opera-hat, which, to his utter astonishment, 
I had caused to spring up from- its flattened state. 
After surveying himself for some time in the glass, 
with evident satisfaction, he drew himself up to his 
full height, and strutted up and down the room, " as 
happy as a king." Having indulged his vanity for 
a few minutes, he replaced in the chest the various 
articles of this imperial costume, and proceeded to 
inspect the other presents. 

I had myself brought a large amount of presents 
and goods for the old chief, and besides these I had 
many valuable articles of European workmanship, 
some of which were purchased with money given mc 



22 THE FERNAND VAZ. Chap. H. 

by another friend* in England to lay out in presents 
for African chiefs, which I thought I could not better 
bestow than on the King of the Rembo. Amongst 
them were a quantity of silks and fine cotton goods, 
silver knives, forks, and spoons, gunpowder, trade 
guns, kettles, and beads for his numerous wives. All 
were packed in chests secured with lock and key; 
the chests being an important part of the donation, 
for the propert of an African chief, in this part, is 
estimated in slaves, wives, and chests. The sight of 
all this wealth almost dumbfoundered the old man. 
When I commenced showing the contents of the 
chests to him he stopped me, and said — " Do you 
love me, Chaillie ? Then do not tell the people what 
you have given me, or they will bewitch me." There 
was an internal struggle between avarice and fear 
expressed in his countenance. His fear of witchcraft 
was a great defect in his character as a chief, for it 
had led to the depopulation of Goumbi, his capital on 
the Rembo. Going to the door, he looked out to 
see that no one was listening ; then he knelt down, 
and clasped my feet with his hands, and, with the stern 
lineaments of his face distorted by fear, begged me 
again to keep secret the account of the wealth I had 
given him. No sooner had he left me than I heard 
him declaring to his people that the white man had 
brought him nothing. As I approached, instead of 
being disconcerted by my appearance on the scene, 
he repeated the same statement, in a louder voice, 
but looked towards me at the same time with an 
expression of countenance that was clearly meant to 

* Heury Jolmson, Esq., of 39, Grutched Friars. 



Chap. n. A PET CHIMPANZEE. 23 

implore me not to say a word to the contrary. The 
people were smiling all the while, for they knew 
better, and were well acquainted with the ways of 
their beloved old chief. He would not remove the 
chests to his canoe in the day-time, but came at night, 
on the eve of his departure, when every one was 
asleep, and stealthily took them himself, with the aid 
of two slaves, down to the water-side. 

In a few days the vessel was unloaded, and my 
goods stored in several huts which were secured only 
by a door tied with a rope of lianas to the bamboo wall. 
My property, however, was respected, and the honest 
Commi people did not rob me of a single article. 
Quengueza returned to Goumbi, and I gradually 
inured myself again to the climate and ways of the 
country. I made short excursions in various direc- 
tions, visited numerous petty chiefs, besides receiving 
visits from others, and stimulated them and their 
people to the collection of produce, that Captain 
Vardon might reload his vessel and return to Eng- 
land. As I have described the coast country at length 
in my former book, a few incidents only of my stay 
need be recorded here, together with some stray 
notes on the natural history, before I commence the 
narrative of my expedition into the interior. 

On the 1st of November a negro from a neighbour- 
ing village brought me a young male chimpanzee 
about three years old, which had been caught in the 
woods on the banks of the Npoulounay about three 
months previously. Thomas, for so I christened my 
little protege, was a tricky little rascal, and afforded 



24 THE FEENAND VAZ. Chap. H. 

me no end of amusement ; he was, however, very 
tame, like all young chimpanzees. Unfortunately 
Thomas was lame in one hand, several of the fingers 
having been broken and healed up in a distorted 
position. This was caused by his having been mal- 
treated by the village dogs, who were sent in chase 
of him one day when he escaped from his captors and 
ran into the neighbouring woods. I had Tom tied 
by a cord to a pole in the verandah of my hut, and 
fed him with cooked plantains and other food from 
my own table. He soon got to prefer cooked to raw 
food, and rejected raw plantains whenever they were 
offered to him. The difference in tameability between 
the young chimpanzee and the young gorilla is a fact 
which I have confirmed by numerous observations, 
and I must repeat it here as it was one of those points 
which were disputed in my former work. A young 
chimpanzee becomes tame and apparently reconciled 
to captivity in two or three days after he is brought 
from the woods. The young gorilla I have never 
yet seen tame in confinement, although I have had 
four of them in custody, while still of very early age. 
One day I witnessed an act of Master Thomas 
which seemed to me to illustrate the habits of his 
species in the wild state. A few days after he came 
into my possession I bought a domestic cat for my 
house ; as soon as the young chimpanzee saw it he 
flew in alarm to his pole and clambered up it, the 
hair of his body becoming erect and his eyes bright 
with excitement. In a moment recovering himself 
he came down, and rushing on the cat, with one of 
his feet seized the nape of the animal, and with the 



Chap. II. THE CHIMPANZEE SENT TO ENGLAND. 25 

other pressed on its back, as if trying to break its 
neck. Not wishing to lose my cat, I interfered and 
saved its life. The negroes say that the chimpanzee 
attacks the leopard in this way, and I have no doubt, 
from what I saw, that their statement is correct. 

My pet preserved his good health and increased 
in intelligence and gentleness until the departure 
of Captain Vardon for England. I then sent him 
home, and on his arrival he was deposited by my 
friend in the Crj^stal Palace at Sydenham, where^ I 
dare say, very many of my readers have seen him, and 
have laughed at his amusing tricks. I am credibly 
informed that his education at the Palace has become 
so far advanced that he understands what is going on 
when his own " cartes de visite " are sold. A feint is 
sometimes made of carrying off one without paying 
for it, but Thomas rushes forward, screaming, to the 
length of his tether, to prevent the irregular trans- 
action, and does not cease his noisy expressions of 
dissatisfaction until the money is paid down. 

Whilst waiting for the erection of a new house and 
store-rooms, I made several little trips down the river, 
visiting the Commi settlements and examining the 
altered state of the river banks. The alterations in 
the mouth of the Fernand Yaz I found had arisen 
from the currents of the river and the sea having 
broken through the long sandy spit, making the 
embouchure broader but more dangerous, because 
portions of the spit had been converted into sand- 
banks with but a small depth of water over them ; 

and, the sand having shifted, no one knew the situa- 
4 



26 THE FEENAND VAZ. Chap. IL 

tion of the deep channel. Old Sangala, the chief of 
Elinde at the mouth of the river, was dead ; and his 
heir, the present chief, who had taken the name of his 
predecessor, was a drunkard, and was held in very 
little estimation. I missed, near the river's mouth, 
the beautiful little island on which I used to shoot so 
many water birds, and where, as also on the sandy 
spit, the grotesque and large crane Mycteria Senegal- 
ensis used to be found, together with thousands of sea- 
birds of many species. The widows of old Sangala 
had all married again ; but they gave me a warm 
welcome, especially the old konde (head wife or 
Queen) who cooked my food for me whilst I stayed, 
and became eloquent in recalling the events of the 
good old times when Sangala waKS* alive. Her hus- 
band showed no jealousy at this discourse, for here 
widows are allowed freely to praise their former 
husbands. 

Death had been busy in other places besides Elinde. 
At the village of Makombe I found that the chief 
was dead^ and that Ilougou, his heir, who had helped 
me to build my former settlement of Washington, had 
been accused of having caused his death by witch- 
craft, and forced to drink the poison ordeal, which 
ended in his own life being sacrificed. Similar scenes 
had been enacted in other villages. It is dangerous 
in this unhappy country to be the heir of any man 
who sickens and dies. 

The day after my return from visiting the mouth 
of the river, I was seized with a severe fit of fever, 
which laid me prostrate for four days. I was obliged 
to send on board the Mentor for a supply of calomel 



Chap. II. • MY ILLNESS. 27 

and jalap, as my medicine chest had been lost in the 
upsetting of the canoe, a box of quinine only having 
been saved. I was touched during my illness by the 
great sympathy shown to me by the natives. The 
most perfect silence was observed round the hut 
where I lay, day and night ; tam-tamming, singing and 
dancing were forbidden, lest they should disturb me ; 
and the old chief, Ranpano, came and sat every day 
for hours together by my bed-side. He very seldom 
spoke, but his countenance manifested the anxiety 
which the good old fellow felt. He would sometimes 
say " Chaillie 1 Chaillie ! you must not be ill while 
you stay in my village. None among my people are 
glad to see you ill. I love you, for you came to me, 
and I have no better friend in the world." When he 
went out he used to mutter words which I did not 
understand, but which were probably invocations to 
some spirit to watch over me. Old Ranpano had 
some strange notions about spirits good and bad, 
which I think were peculiar to him. One day he 
took it into his head that he should die if he entered 
my hut, for he had been told that some one having 
an aniemba (a witch) had made a mondah, and had 
put it under the threshold of my door, so that, should 
he enter my hut, the witch would go into him and he 
would die. 

No persuasion of mine could induce the old chief 
to come into my hut, and after a time I got angry 
with him, and told him that he ought not to refuse to 
come and see me. The good old chief immediately 
sent for some doctors, who, of course, at once declared 
that it was true that some one wanted to bewitch him, 



28 THE FEENAND YAZ. * Chap. II. 

and had put a mondali at my door to kill him. But 
they said that it could be removed now that the 
people knew that there was one. 

Immediately the ceremonies for banishing the 
witch began. For three consecutive days they danced 
almost incessantly, and invoked the good spirits ; and 
one fine morning, whilst I was occupied in writing 
inside the hut, unaware that any one was approaching, 
Eanpano came to my door, fired a gun, and entered 
the hut in a great hurry, muttering invocations and 
curses ; he then became easier in his manners, having 
as he thought, thus cleared the moral atmosphere. 

An event of great importance in relation to my 
expedition occurred on the 22nd of November and 
following days. During my absence in Europe the 
assembled chiefs of the Gommi clans under the pre- 
sidency of King Olenga-Yombi (who had now taken 
the name of Eigoundo) had passed a law to the effect 
that no Mpongwe (the trading tribe of the Gaboon) 
or white man should be allowed to ascend the river 
Fernand Yaz or the Ogobai. It is the universal rule 
among the coast tribes of "West Africa to prevent, if 
possible, all strangers from penetrating into the inte- 
rior, even if it be only to the next tribe, through fear 
that they should lose the exclusive privilege of trading 
with these tribes. Indeed every tribe tries to pre- 
vent all strangers from communicating with the tribe 
next in advance of them. The spirit of commercial and 
political monopoly, so natural to the heart of uncivi- 
lized as well as semi-civilized man, is the cause of 
this ; and the rule had only been broken through in 



Chap. H. KING OLENGA-YOMBI. 29 

my own case, on my former journey, owing to my 
popularity among the chiefs and the powerful friend- 
ship of Quengueza. It was now my aim to get this 
new law repealed, at least as far as I was concerned ; 
and on the 22nd of November King Olenga-Yombi 
came in person to my village on the Fernand Vaz, to 
hold a palaver thereupon. 

King Olenga-Yombi still retained his old habits 
of drunkenness, which I have described in * Equatorial 
Africa ; ' and although it was early in the morn- 
ing when he came to see me, he was already fuddled 
with palm wine. I made him a present of a very 
long blue coat, the tails of which dangled about his 
ankles when he walked, and a light yellow waistcoat 
with gilt buttons ; with these he strutted about with 
the true pride of an African king, and they seemed 
to please him quite as much as the muskets and many 
other more useful articles which I added to the gift. 
A single word from Olenga-Yombi might have hin- 
dered me from passing up the river ; for, although in 
council the head chiefs of these tribes have no more 
influence than the other speakers, they have the 
power of veto in many things. There is a certain 
spirit of loyalty amongst these Africans which leads 
them not to disobey a positive prohibition by the 
superior chief, although he may not have the physical 
power to enforce obedience. It was important there- 
fore for me to conciliate this drunken negro chief. 

The palaver was held in the council-house of the 
village, a large open shed, chairs being placed for 
the principal speakers. There was a Mpongwe man 
present who had recently come from the Gaboon, en- 



30 . THE FEENAND YAZ. Chap. 1L 

trusted by one of tlie traders there with about eight 
hundred pounds worth of goods. When the palaver 
began, I took care that my own case and that of the 
Mpongwe should be treated of separately. The result 
was most satisfactory. I was allowed the right of 
the river, whilst the Mpongwe was refused. Long 
speeches were made, and the king finally issued his 
decree that whatever village allowed the Mpongwe 
trader to pass up the river should be burnt and the 
plantations destroyed. The speakers argued that I 
did not go into the interior to trade, but to shoot 
animals and bring away the skins and bones. 
" Truly," they said, " we do not know what our 
Chaillie has in his stomach to want such things, but 
we must let him go." Orders were given to the 
Makaga to see that the law was executed ; and the 
king concluded by assuring me that not only would 
no resistance be offered to my progress, but that, when 
I was ready to depart, he would send some of his own 
slaves to accompany me. He told me, when we were 
alone afterwards, that I was his " big white man." 
" What you say," he continued, " we do, for we know 
it is for our good." He wished me to go and esta- 
blish a factory at his village near Cape St. Catherine, 
saying that he had made a law that whoever robbed 
a white man should have his ears cut off, and that 
his people, who were formerly great thieves, did not 
now steal any longer. On the 25th he departed, 
after having made me promise to visit him at his 
village. 

On the 27th of November I paid a visit to the 
ruins of my old establishment, " Washington," and 



Chap. II. VISIT TO KINKIMONGANI'S GKAVE. 31 

to the burial-place of my faithful guardian Einki- 
mongani, which were a mile distant from my new 
settlement. I felt the loss of the honest old fellow 
more than ever, for the man who now filled the same 
office, Malonga, the brother of Ranpano, was a tricky 
knave, whom I disliked thoroughly. The natives 
told me that Rinkimongani was continually talking 
of me during my absence, counting the seasons as 
they rolled past, and carefully guarding the house 
and gardens, in the firm hope that I should soon 
return. It was universally believed, of course, that 
he had been bewitched through jealousy of my 
friendship for him, and that foul play had been used 
to cause his death. 

I was accompanied by one of my boys to the 
burial-ground. The road to it from my place led 
across the prairie and through a few groves of trees 
to the margins of one of those pretty islands of wood, 
which diversify the sandy grass-land of the Fernand 
Yaz. The cemetery was recognisable from a distance 
by the numerous poles fixed in the ground. Rinki- 
mongani's body had been placed in a box or coffin, 
for the Oommi people are now so far advanced in 
civilisation that they have adopted the white man's 
customs in this respect ; it is only, however, the head 
men who are laid in boxes, and they are not interred 
in the earth, but laid according to the old native 
habit on the surface, or inserted a small depth into 
the ground. The wood of my poor old friend's coffin 
was decayed, and I could see his mouldering bones 
inside, together with the remains of his valuables 
that were buried with him, consisting of jugs and 



32 THE FEKNAND VAZ. Chap. II. 

pots, a quantity of brass buttons, tbe remains of a 
coat, and an old umbrella-stick, which was all that 
was left of this article, a present from me, and which 
he always carried about with him. All around were 
skeletons and bones crumbling to powder, the frag- 
ments of mats and cloth which had served the 
corpses as their winding-sheets, and broken relics 
which had been reverently buried with the dead. 
It was a place that one might moralise in — the 
humble, fragile grave-yard of a tribe of poor negroes, 
which represented in their eyes quite as much as. our 
proud monuments of stone that will also in their 
turn disappear. 

Returning to the old settlement I saw the house 
in which Rinkimongani died. It was still standing 
close to my own place, which had been partly de- 
stroyed by fire in the burning of the prairie. All 
the out-buildings and huts of my men were com- 
plete ruins, but the old man's house was in tolerable 
preservation. The faith of Rinkimongani in my 
return had overcome his superstitious scruples ; for 
every negro believed the settlement had been be- 
witched, and wondered at the old man's folly and 
obstinacy in remaining there after so many had 
died. It will be remembered that the place was once 
abandoned on account of its evil reputation during 
my former residence. As I wandered about the 
ruins I thought of the many happy hours I had 
spent here in the days of my Natural History en- 
thusiasm, when I was amassing my collections, and 
the addition of a new species was the coveted reward 
of a long day's hunt. The birds which used to build 



Chap. H. THE BOLA lYOGA. 33 

their nests by hundreds in the surrounding trees had 
forsaken the place ; and in the rank grass near the 
river I saw a huge python coiled up, like an evil 
spirit on the watch. When I told my companion 
that I regretted not having returned to the old spot, 
he looked at me with horror expressed in his coun- 
tenance. The place was thought to be bewitched 
and accursed. 

All the fixtures and household property of Rin- 
kimongani remained intact, for the hola ivoga, or 
breaking up of the mourning-time and division of 
his effects,* had not yet been celebrated. Contrary 
to African custom, the wives of the deceased had 
deserted the place before the bola ivoga, on account 
of its bad reputation. They ought to have remained 
here in chaste widowhood until the proper time had 
arrived for the ceremony (generally a year or two 
after the death of the husband), when the wives, 
slaves, and other property of the deceased, are 
divided amongst his rightful heirs, and the house 
burnt to the ground. 

Soon after this the building of my new palm- 
wood house approached completion, in the little 
village which I had chosen for my residence, and 
which I had bought of Rabolo, a petty chief Nothing 
remained to be put up except the verandah, but an 
obstacle existed to its erection which my men dared 
not remove. This was a formidable mondah or fetich, 
which my friend Eabolo had made in his village 
before I purchased it, and which I now found was 

* See, for a description of this custom, * Adventures in Equatorial 
Africa,' p. 239. 



34 THE FERNAND VAZ. Chap. II. 

close to tlie site of my house, at what was formerly 
the entrance to the single street of the village. 
Almost all the villages in this country have some- 
thing of this kind at their entrance, constructed to 
prevent the entry of witchcraft and death, or to 
bring good luck to the inhabitants. Eabolo's talis- 
man was considered to be a very effective one, for 
since the village was established, twelve dry seasons 
ago, no one had died there. This was no great 
wonder, since there were only fifteen inhabitants 
in the place. 

My builders came to me to say they dared not 
remove Rabolo's fetich, and prayed me not to touch 
it until Rabolo came, otherwise there would be a big 
palaver. It seemed likely I should have some diffi- 
culty, for Eabolo had already spent the purchase- 
money of his village, distributing the goods amongst 
his wives and numerous fathers-in-law. However, 
I was firm, and when Rabolo came I was peremptory 
in demanding that the rubbish should be cleared 
away. He submitted at last, and commenced to cut 
down the bushes which covered the talisman, and 
dig up the mysterious relics. The first thing that I 
saw turned up was the skull of a chimpanzee buried 
in the sand ; then came the skull of a man, probably 
an ancestor of Rabolo, and a mass of broken plates, 
glasses, and crockery of all sorts, which had been 
placed there to keep company with the mondah. He 
then removed the two upright poles with cross-bar 
and talismanic creeper growing at their foot, which 
constituted the protecting portal of the village, the 
negroes all the while standing around with looks of 



Chap. II. EABOLO'S FETICH. 35 

blank amazement. It is the belief of the negroes 
that, as long as the creeping-plant keeps alive, so 
long will the fetich retain its efScacy. A similar 
plant covered both the heaps of skulls and rubbish. 
At the foot of this portal and underneath the creeper 
were more chimpanzee skulls and fragments of pot- 
tery. In the ground near the two poles were also two 
wooden idols. We removed the whole, and I need not 
tell my readers that no evil consequences ensued. As 
to Rabolo and his subjects, they flattered themselves 
that it was this powerful fetich which brought me 
to settle on this spot. They have, in common with 
all the negroes of this part of Africa, a notion that 
there is some mysterious connection or affinity be- 
tween the chimpanzee and the white man. It is 
owing, I believe, to the pale face of the chimpanzee, 
which has suggested the notion that we are descended 
from it, as the negro has descended from the black- 
faced gorilla. I heard of other head men of villages 
making mondahs with skulls of chimpanzees associated 
with skulls of their ancestors, believing that these 
would draw my heart to them and, induce me to give 
them presents or trust them with goods. I removed 
all my goods and establishment to the village when 
my large roomy house and store were at length 
ready for me, thanks to my good friend Captain 
Yardon, who had himself worked hard to get them 
finished. The house was pleasantly situated between 
the villages of Djombouai and Ranpano. 

On the 18th of January, 1864, the Mentor, having 
completed her cargo, sailed for England. It was the 
first vessel that the Commi people had loaded by" 



36 THE FEKNAND VAZ. Chap. n. 

themselves with the produce of their country, and 
they were not a little proud of their achievement.- 
Besides Thomas, I sent by the vessel a live female 
chimpanzee which I had obtained, and which I chris- 
tened " Mrs. Thomas." I also sent- a collection of 
skulls of natives, about ninety in number, for the 
British Museum. I was obliged to pack these skulk 
very carefully, to prevent the negroes from* know- 
ing what it was they were carrying on board the 
ship. 

I had forbidden my lad Macondai to say a word 
about it. As they placed the box in the canoe, the 
negroes inquired what was in it. Macondai answered, 
" Of course, mats for his friends." As soon as the 
box was on board the ship the mate and the sailors 
peeped into it, and discovering the contents, begged 
Captain Vardon to send the box ashore again, as 
the skulls were sure to bring misfortune and ship- 
wreck. Luckily for me Captain Yardon had too 
much good sense to pay any heed to their supersti- 
tious fears. 

Mrs. Tom unfortunately died on the passage, but 
Tom, as I have already stated, arrived safely in 
London, and is still living.* I went on board when 
all was ready, and bade Captain Yardon a hearty 
good-bye. My boys in the canoe gave three cheers 
for the crew, as the white sails expanded and the 
little vessel glided away ; and I returned to my 
solitude in the wilderness with a heavy heart. 

* The fire at the Crystal Palace, to which my unfortunate pet fell a 
sacrifice, occurred whilst these sheets were passing through the press. 



CHAPTER III. 

EXCURSIONS IN SEAECH OF THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. 

Visit to King Olenga-Yombi — Storm on the Fernand Yaz — Land journey 
to Aniambie — First traces of Gorilla — Form of its tracks — Drunken 
orgies of tke King — Magic island of Nengu^ Ncoma — ^Village of 
Nkongon Mboumba — Search, of the Ipi, or great Pangolin — Its habits — 
Village of Mburu Shara — Nkengo Nschiego variety of Chimpanzee — 
Bowers of the Chimpanzee — Group of Gorillas in a plantain grove — 
Their mode of walking — Horrid form of monomania — Akondogo brings 
a live Gorilla — Return to the Fernand Vaz — Three more live Gorillas 
— Account of their capture — Modification of opinions concerning the 
Gorilla. 

During my stay in the country of the Fernand Vaz, 
before departing for the interior, I made several very 
interesting excursions. The most important of these 
were to the residence of King Olenga-Yombi near 
Cape St. Catherine, on the coast, south of the Fernand 
Vaz, and to the wooded country in the interior south- 
east of that place. This part of the country, I have 
now reason for concluding, is the head-quarters of 
the gorilla, or the district in which he exists in the 
greatest number, but where he is wildest and most 
difficult to get near. I stayed there many weeks, 
almost wholly occupied in hunting, and had good 
opportunities of seeing this formidable ape in his 
native wilds. Some account of these excursions will, 
therefore, be necessary in this place. 

I visited Aniambie, the residence of Olenga-Yombi, 



38 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPL Chap. IIL 

twice during "tlie year 1864, once in February and 
again in June. During the first excursion, besides 
hunting the gorilla, I spent some time in search of 
a large species of pangolin, or scaly ant-eater, called 
Ipi, which I had not succeeded in obtaining during 
my earlier travels in this country. We left my 
village, "Plateau," as I had named it, on the 13th 
of the month, in two canoes, one manned by eleven 
men in which I myself embarked, and the other 
manned by six men. 

As my readers will see by the map, the Fernand 
Yaz runs in the lower part of its course, for about 
forty miles, nearly parallel to the sea, the space 
between the river and the sea-shore being a tract of 
level sandy country covered with grass and isolated 
groups of trees, and nowhere more than a few 
miles wide. The nearest road to Aniambie, a sea- 
shore town, the capital of Olenga-Yombi, is therefore 
up the stream to a point nearly opposite the town, 
and then across the tongue of land. A little south 
of this point, and towards the interior, the level land 
ceases, and a hilly and more thickly-wooded country 
commences, where are the plantations of the king. 

As we put off from "Plateau" on our first journey, 
Malonga, an old negro, whom I left in charge of my 
house and property,* assured me that he had made a 
fetich to ensure us fine weather, and that we should, 
have no rain. In this country the doctors are not 
makers, but unmakers, of rain. He was miserably 

* Eanpano had named this man to he guardian of my premises whenever 
I was ahsent ; and the guardian having heen named hy the chief, he and 
his people became responsihle for the safety of my property. 



Chap. HI. STOEM ON THE FERNAND VAZ. 39 

wrong in his forecast. The evening, indeed, was fine, 
and the moon shone in a cloudless sky ; but soon after 
the moon had set, about ten o'clock, a thick black cloud 
arose in the north-east, and before we could run the 
canoes into a safe harbour, a terrific tornado burst upon 
us. The sky seemed all ablaze with lightning, and the 
thunder pealed incessantly. Our canoes were driven 
ashore, but luckily in a place where the banks were 
clothed with low trees and bushes. The rain came 
down in torrents, and we could find no shelter until 
we reached a small village, where we went ashore, 
and passed the remainder of the night shivering over 
our wretched little fire, for the people had neglected 
to provide a supply of fire- wood. 

We stayed here till noon the next day, and then 
resumed our voyage in the rain till six o'clock, when 
we arrived at the landing-place, where the path com- 
mences that leads to Aniambie. King Olenga-Yombi 
had here ordered a large shed (ebando) to be built for 
me, and we found a store of fire-wood and provisions, 
including a goat, ready for us. The ebando stood on 
the banks of a little creek, the mouth of which lay 
opposite the lower end of the Island Nengue Shika. 

Inland from this place the scenery is varied and 
beautiful ; stretches of grassy prairie and patches of 
luxuriant forest. Some parts of the district, however, 
are swampy, and in these the forest is very rank. 
Such places are called by the natives " ivolo," which 
means a wooded bog, and they are the haunts of the 
gorilla. My first day's chase was not very successful. 
We hunted with two dogs, and after we had struggled 
through the thorny and swampy thickets for a long 



40 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. HL 

time, one of tlie dogs broke away from ns, and spoilt 
what might have been very good sport. We heard 
distinctly the rustling and crashing noise in the bush, 
which denoted gorillas in the act of feeding, for, in 
searching for berries, they are continually pulling 
down the branches of the lower trees, and letting 
them go again. Before we could get within sight of 
them we heard a sharp cry, and they then made off. 
My men agreed with myself that they were two 
females ; but they also added that the male was not 
far away, and would soon come towards us to see what 
drove his females off, and fight us. We traversed 
the jungle for two or three miles, but had not the 
good luck to see a male gorilla. Foot-tracks were 
very abundant in the moist soil wherever we came 
upon bare places. We followed the tracks of the 
two females until we lost them in the midst of a 
great number of foot-marks of other gorillas. All 
around w^ere numerous young trees broken down, 
and, in an old plantation, we saw some sugar-cane 
which had been broken, and the stems presented signs 
of their having been bitten by the gorillas. 

I may state in this place that I took particular note, 
on this day's hunt, of the marks which the feet and 
hands of the gorilla made in the soft soil. The tracks 
were very plain, but those of the feet never showed 
the marks of the toes, only the heels, and the tracks 
of the hands showed simply the impressions of the 
knuckles. 

During the following days I traversed other 
patches of jungle lying nearer the sea-shore, and, • 
although unsuccessful with regard to bagging a 



Chap. III. DRUNKEN OEOIES OF THE KING. 41 

gorilla, added a number of specimens in other depart- 
ments of JSTatnral History to my collection. On the 
25th of February I proceeded to Aniambie to see the 
king, who had returned from a big palaver he had 
had with the Ngobi tribe south of Cape Catherine. 

The ISTgobi are the next tribe to the Commi, going 
southward along the coast. They have not yet 
arrived at that stage of African civilization which 
forbids selHng their own people into slavery. The 
Mpongwe of the Gaboon and the Commi of the Fer- 
nand Yaz, since they have become a little civilized 
by contact with the white man, have quite abandoned 
the practice of selling people of their own tribes ; 
such an act would be now looked upon as shameful. 

I have already described Aniambie in my former 
work ; all that it is now necessary to say is, that I 
found it much reduced in its population, and looking 
very wretched. The king, as usual, was drunk when 
I arrived. Indeed, he was too tipsy to stand on his 
legs ; nevertheless, he was bullying and boasting in a 
loud tone of voice. I had not been in his place long 
before he ordered another calabash full of palm wine, 
and drank oif about half a gallon of it. This finished 
him up for the day ; he fell back into the arms of his 
loving wives, ejaculating many times, "I am a big 
king ! I am a big king ! " The voice soon became 
inaudible, and he fell asleep. 

In the neighbourhood of Aniambie there is one 
island covered with trees, which is held in great awe. 
It is called ISTengue Ncoma. "Whosoever enters 
this island," said to me one of my guides, " is sure to 
die suddenly, or to become crazy and wander about 
5. " 



42 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPL Chap. IH. 

till he dies." This is another of the wild superstitions 
with which this land is teeming, so fertile are the 
busy brains of the imaginative Commi people. My 
guide added that it was the home of a great crocodile 
whose scales were of brass, and who never left the 
island. To show the people how vain were their 
fears, I immediately walked towards the place, and 
traversed the patch of jungle in various directions. 
When I came out again the poor negroes seemed 
stupified with wonder. They were not cured, how- 
ever, of their belief, for they only concluded that I 
was a spirit, and that what would be death to them 
did no harm to me. 

Early in the morning of the 26th of February, 
before the drunken king was awake, I started for 
Nkongon Mboumba, one of his slave villages, there 
to hunt the ipi or large pangolin, which was said to 
inhabit the neighbouring forest. During my former 
journey I sought in vain for the ipi, it being very 
rarely met with. The place is situated about ten 
miles south-east of Aniambie, in an undulating well- 
wooded country. It is built on the summit of a hill, 
at the foot of which flowed a charming rivulet, which 
meandered through the valley for some distance, and 
then became hidden from the view by the dense 
forest. This district was wholly new ground to me, 
as I had not visited it in my former travels. Among 
the slaves residing here to work the king's planta- 
tions were specimens of no less than eleven different 
tribes. Some old slaves from the far interior seemed 
very little removed from the Anthropoid apes in their 
shape and features — lean legs, heavy bodies with pro- 




IPI, OE SCALY ANT-EATEE, 
{PJwUdotus Africanus.) 



Chap. III. THE PANGOLIN OE IPI. 43 

minent abdomen, retreating foreheads and projecting 
muzzles — they were more like animals than men and 
women. A Portuguese slave-schooner had just left 
the coast for the Island of St. Thomas with seventy- 
eight slaves on board. The king, as well as the chiefs 
and people, never sell the slaves they have inherited, 
and I saw some in this village who had lived there 
fifty years. The children of slaves, also, are not sold. 
The sale of inherited slaves is contrary to the customs 
of the country, and, to use their own expression, 
would bring shame upon them. 

The next morning I went with a number of men 
in search of the ipi. From the description given 
me by the natives I was sure that I had never before 
met with this species, and had some hope of its being 
new to science. The pangolin genus {]\ianis of 
zoologists) to which it belongs is a very singular 
group of animals. They are ant-eaters, like the 
Myrmecophaga of South America, being like them 
quite destitute of teeth, and having a long extensile 
tongue, the extremity of which is covered with a 
glutinous secretion, by means of which they catch 
their prey. But, whilst the South American ant- 
eaters are clothed with hair, like ordinary mammalian 
animals, the pangolins have an armour of large scales, 
implanted in the skin of the upper surface of the body 
from the head to the tip of the tail, and imbricated or 
overlapping, like the slates on the roof of a house. 
The animals look, at first sight, like curious heavy- 
bodied lizards, but they have warm blood, and nourish 
their young like the rest of the mammalia. 

The ipi lives in burrows- in the earth, or sometimes 



44 SEAECH FOR THE GOEILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. IH. 

in the large lioUows of colossal trunks of trees which 
have fallen to the ground. The burrows that I saw 
were in light soil on the slope of a hill. There are 
two holes to each gallery, one for entrance and the 
other for exit. This is necessary, on account of the 
animal being quite incapable of curving its body 
sideways, so that it cannot turn itself in its burrow. 
The bodies of pangolins are very flexible vertically, 
that is, they can roll themselves up into a ball, and 
coil and uncoil themselves very readily, but they 
cannot turn round within the confined limits of 
their burrows. In hunting them we had first to 
ascertain, by the footmarks, or more readily by the 
marks left by the trail of the tail, which was the 
entrance and which the exit of the burrow, and then, 
making a trap at the one end, drive them out by the 
smoke of a fire at the other 5 afterwards securing 
them with ropes. The freshness of the tracks told 
us that the animal had entered its burrow the pre- 
vious evening; for I must add that the ipi is 
nocturnal in its habits, sleeping in its burrow 
throughout the day. When it wanders at night the 
natives say that they can hear the rattling of its 
large scales. 

A long and wearisome day's hunt produced no 
fruit. We wandered over hill and dale through the 
forest and streams, leaving the beaten paths, and 
struggling . for hours through the tangled maze, with 
no other result than to tear our clothes to rags, and 
cover ourselves with scratches from the thorns and 
cutting edges of sword-like grasses which grew in 
many places. I nevertheless persevered, searching 



Chap. in. RESULT OF THE IPI HUNT. 45 

the whole conntry for many miles round, and had, at 
any rate, the melancholy satisfaction of feeling that 
I was hardening myself for any amount of endurance 
that might be required in my future explorations. 
At length, on the 5th of March, I was rewarded 
by finding two specimens, an adult female and a 
young one ; the skins and skeletons of both I pre- 
served and afterwards sent to the British Museum. 
The adult measured about four feet and a half from 
the head to the tip of the tail. The flesh of the ipi 
is good eating. Those that I captured were very 
lean, but I was informed by the natives that they 
are sometimes very fat. I found, on dissection, no- 
thing but the remains of ants in their stomachs. The 
tail is very thick, and makes a large track on the 
ground in walking. 

On my return to England I found, as I had 
expected, that my ipi was a new species ; but it 
appears that, some time after the arrival of my 
two specimens, another was bought from a dealer, 
who said that it had come from Dr. Baikie, having 
been found by him in the neighbourhood of the 
River Niger. It has been described by Dr. Gray 
in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' April, 
1865, under the name of PhoUdoius Africanus, so 
that it belongs to a different genus from the rest 
of the African species of these curious animals, 
which are ranged under Manis. It is interesting 
to find that the animal is more nearly allied to an 
Indian form than to the other African pangolins. 
My adult skeleton fortunately turned out a fine and 
perfect specimen, the largest yet known, and it may 



46 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. IIL 

now be seen mounted in the collection of the British 
Museum.* 

My first journey to the gorilla district having been 
unsuccessful in its main object, namely, the capture 
of a gorilla (although I obtained several skins and 
skeletons), I resolved to pay it a second visit. The 
1 6th of June saw me again on my way thither. 

On the 17th I diverged from my route to visit 
my friend Mburu Shara, a negro chief, whose vil- 
lage was situated on the right or eastern bank of 
the Fernand Vaz, just opposite to the landing-place 
of Aniambie. Mburu Shara was a younger man 
than African chiefs usually are, but he was one of 
the finest fellows in the country, and well-disposed 
towards the white man. I spent three most delightful 
days at his place, which I had never before visited. 
Soon after I landed, the villagers came forth, laid 
mats at my feet, and piled up their presents of 
plantains ; a fat goat was given to me, and my 

* The specimen of Pholidotus Africanus on wliich tlie describe! of the 
species founds his measurements, and the skull of which he figured, I have 
ascertained, by my own examination in the British Museum, is not the 
one said to be received from the Niger, but the specimen which I sent. 
The Niger specimen is very much smaller. I mention this, because 
Dr. Gray, doubtless through inadvertency, has omitted to mention my 
name at all in connection with the species. This omission is important 
only from the circumstance that the locality of the animal, " Fernand 
Vaz," is also left out; the localities and ranges of species being always 
considered, and very rightly, important facts in zoological science. I 
presume there is a possibility of a mistake in the locality of the Niger 
specimen ; however, I may as well mention that I know that a third speci- 
men of the ipi was Taken by the natives whilst I was at the Fernand Vaz, 
exactly the size of the one described as coming from the Niger : but the 
natives asking too high a price for it, I would not purchase it, and it came 
into the possession of Captain Holder, the master of the Camhria, a vessel 
trading to Bristol ; where the specimen is at present I do not know, but it 
may possibly be the one Dr. Gray purchased for the British Museum. 



Chap. III. NEW VAEIETY OF CHIMPANZEE. 47 

reception altogetlier was most hearty. I hunted in 
the neighbourhood during my stay. The country 
was varied in its surface, prairie land and scattered 
woods. The woods were inhabited by a good many 
chimpanzees, but the gorilla was not known in the 
district. We succeeded in killing an adult female 
chimpanzee of a variety new to me, and called by 
the natives Nkengo Nschiego. It is distinguished 
from the common form of the chimpanzee by its face 
being yellow. All the specimens of the old bald- 
headed chimpanzee (Nschiego Mbouve) that I have 
found had black faces, except when quite young, 
when the face is white and not yellow, as I have de- 
scribed in ' Equatorial Africa ; ' and the common chim- 
panzee, although yellow-faced when young, becomes 
gradually black as it grows old. There are, there- 
fore, three varieties of the chimpanzee distinguished 
by the negroes of Equatorial Africa. I do not here 
include the Kooloo Kamba.* I was extremely sorry 
at not being able to obtain further specimens of this 
last-mentioned ape on my present journey ; it appears 
to be very rare. I was told that the Nschiego 
Mbouve was also found in these woods. 

I found here also several of the bowers made by 
the Nkengo Nschiego of branches of trees, and they 
were somewhat different in form from those I found 
in my former journey. I had two of them cut 
down, and sent them to the British Museum. 
They are formed at a height of twenty or thirty feet 
in the trees by the animals bending over and inter- 
twining a number of the weaker boughs, so as to 

* Figured in ' Adventures in Equatorial Africa,' pp. 270 and 360. 



48 SEAKCH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. HI. 

form bower, under which they can sit^ protected from 
the rains by the masses of foHage thus entangled 
together, some of the boughs being so bent that they 
form convenient seats ; on them were found remains 
of nuts and berries. 

I found Olenga-Yombi at his slave-plantation, 
drunk as usual. His head wife, thinking to appease 
my wrath at the vile habits of her husband, told me 
the following curious story of the origin of the vice. 
When he was quite a child his father used to put him 
in a big bag which he had made for the purpose, and 
carry him to the top of a high tree, where he plied 
him with the intoxicating palm wine. Every day he 
repeated the dose until the child came to like palm 
wine better than its mother's milk, whereat the father 
was greatly delighted, because he wished him to be 
renowned, when he was grown up, for the quantity 
of palm wine he could drink. " So you see, Chaillie," 
she said, " you must not be angry with him, for it is 
not his own fault." The wife, however, promised he 
should keep sober whilst I was with him, and the 
slaves, amusingly enough, in the presence of the king, 
declared they would throw away every calabash of 
wine that should be brought to his Majesty. 

I had not been at the village long before news came 
that gorillas had been recently seen in the neighbour^ 
hood of a plantation only half a mile distant. Early 
in the morning of the 25th of June I wended my 
way thither, accompanied by one of my boys, named 
Odanga. The plantation was a large one, and 
situated on very broken ground, surrounded by the 
virgin forest. It was a lovely morning ; the sky was 



Chap. III. GROUP OF GORILLAS. 49 

! 

almost clondless, and all around was still as death, 

except tlie slight rustling of the tree -tops moved by 
the gentle land breeze. When I reached the place, I 
had fir^t to pick my way through the maze of tree- 
stumps and half-burnt logs by the side of a field of 
cassada. I was going quietly along the borders of 
this, when I heard, in the grove of plantain-trees 
towards which I was walking, a great crashing noise, 
like the breaking of trees. I immediately hid myself 
behind a bush, and was soon gratified with the sight 
of a female gorilla ; but before I had time to notice 
its movements, a second and third emerged from the 
masses of colossal foliage ; at length no less than four 
came into view. 

They were all busily engaged in tearing down the 
larger trees. One of the females had a young one 
following her. I had an excellent opportunity of 
watching the movements of the impish-looking band. 
The shaggy hides, the protuberant abdomens, the 
hideous features of these strange creatures, whose 
forms so nearly resemble man, made up a picture like 
a vision in some morbid dream. In destroying a tree, 
they first grasped the base of the stem with one of 
their feet and then with their powerful arms pulled it 
down, a matter of not much difficulty with so loosely- 
formed a stem as that of the plantain. They then set 
upon the juicy heart of the tree at the bases of the 
leaves, and devoured it with great voracity. While 
eating they made a kind of clucking noise, ex- 
pressive of contentment. Many trees they destroyed 
apparently out of pure mischief. Now and then they 
stood still and looked around. Once or twice they 



50 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. Ill 

seemed on tlie point of starting off in alarm, but re- 
covered themselves and continued their work. Gra- 
dually they got nearer to the edge of the dark forest; 
and finally disappeared. I was so intent on watching 
them, that I let go the last chance of shooting one 
almost before I became aware of it. 

The next day I went again with Odanga to the 
same spot. I had no expectation of seeing gorillas in 
the same plantation, and was carrying a light shot 
gun, having given my heavy double-barrelled rifle to 
the boy to carry. The plantation extended over two 
hills, with a deep hollow between, planted with sugar 
cane. Before I had crossed the hollow I saw on the 
opposite slope a monstrous gorilla, standing erect 
and looking directly towards me. Without turning 
my face I beckoned to the boy to bring me my rifle, 
but no rifle came, — the little coward had bolted, and 
I lost my chance. The huge beast stared at me for 
about two minutes, and then, without uttering any 
cry, moved off to the shade of the forest, running 
nimbly on his hands and feet. 

As my readers may easily imagine, I had excellent 
opportunity of observing, during these two days, 
the manner in which the gorillas walked when in 
open ground. They move along with great rapidity 
and on all fours, that is, with the knuckles of their 
hands touching the ground. Artists, in representing 
the gorilla walking, generally make the arms too 
much bowed outwards, and the elbows too much 
bent ; this gives the figures an appearance of heaviness 
and awkwardness. When the gorillas that I watched 
left the plantain-trees, they moved .off at a great pace 



Chap. HI. A LIYE GOEILLA CAUGHT. 51. 

over tlie ground, with their arms extended straight 
forwards towards the ground, and moving rapidly. 
I may mention also that having now opened the 
stomachs of several freshly-killed gorillas I have 
never found anything but vegetable matter in them. 
When I returned to Nkongon' Mboumba I found 
there my old friend Akondogo, chief of one of the 
Commi villages, who had just returned from the Ngobi 
country, a little further south. To my great surprise 
and pleasure, he had brought for me a living gorilla, 
a young one, but the largest I had ever seen captured 
alive. Like Joe, the yDung male whose habits in 
confinement I described in 'Equatorial Africa,' this 
one showed the most violent and ungovernable dis- 
position. He tried to bite every one who came near 
him, and was obliged to-be secured by a forked stick 
closely applied to the back of his neck. This mode of 
imprisoning these animals is a very improper one if 
the object be to keep them alive and to tame them, 
but, unfortunately, in this barbarous country, we had 
not the materials requisite to build a strong cage. 
The injury caused to this one by the forked stick 
eventually caused his death. As I had some more 
hunting to do, I left the animal in charge of Akon- 
dogo until he should have an opportunity of sending 
it to me on the Fernand Yaz. 

I cannot avoid relating in this place a very curious 
instance of a strange and horrid form of monomania 
which is sometimes displayed by these primitive 
negroes. It was related to me so circumstantially by 
Akondogo, and so well confirmed by others, that I 




52 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPL Chap. IIL 

cannot help fully believing in all the principal facts 
of the case. 

Poor Akondogo said that he had had plenty of 
trouble in his day ; that a leopard had killed two of 
his men, and that he had a great many palavers to 
settle on account of these deaths. 

Not knowing exactly what he meant, I said to 
him, " Why did you not make a trap to catch the 
leopard ? " To my astonishment, he replied, " The 
leopard was not of the kind you mean. It was a 
man who had changed himself into a leopard, and 
then became a man again." I said, "Akondogo, I 
will never believe your story. How can a man be 
turned into a leopard ? " He again asserted that it 
was true, and gave me the following history : — 

Whilst he was in the woods with his people, gather- 
ing india-rubber, one of his men disappeared, and, 
notwithstanding all their endeavours, nothing could 
be found of him but a quantity of blood. The next 
day another man disappeared, and in searching for' 
him more blood was found. ^ All the people got 
alarmed, and Akondogo sent for a great Doctor to 
drink the mboundou, and solve the mystery of these 
two deaths. To the horror and astonishment of the 
old chief, the doctor declared it was Akondogo' s own 
child (his nephew and heir), Akosho, who had killed 
the two men. Akosho was sent for, and, when asked 
by the chief, answered that it was truly he who had 
coramitted the murders ; that he could not help it, for 
he had turned into a leopard, and his heart longed 
for blood ; and that after each deed he had turned into 
a man again. Akondogo loved his boy so much that 



Chap. III. HOEEID FOEM OF MONOMANIA. 53 

he wonld not believe his own confession, until the boy 
took him to a place in the forest where lay the two 
bodies, one with the head cut off, and the other with 
the belly torn open. Upon this, Akondogo gave 
orders to seize the lad. He was bound with ropes, 
taken to the village, and there tied in a horizontal 
position to a post, and burnt slowly to death, all the 
people standing by until he expired. 

I must say, the end of the story seemed to me too 
horrid to listen to. I shuddered, and was ready to 
curse the race that was capable of committing such 
acts. But on careful inquiry, I found it was a case 
of monomania in the boy Akosho, and that he really 
was the murderer of the two men. It is probable 
that the superstitious belief of these morbidly imagi- 
native Africans in the transformation of men into 
leopards, being early instilled into the minds of their 
children, is the direct cause of murders being com- 
mitted under the influence of it. The boy himself, as 
well as Akondogo and all the people, believed he had 
really turned into a leopard, and the cruel punish- 
ment was partly in vengeance for witchcraft, and 
partly to prevent the committal of more crimes by 
the boy in a similar way, for, said they, the man has 
a spirit of witchcraft. 

The natives of all the neighbouring country were 
now so well aware that I wanted live gorillas, and 
was willing to give a high price for them, that many 
were stimulated to search with great perseverance ; 
the good effects of this were soon made evident. 

One day as I was quietly dining with Captain 




54 SEAECH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. IH. 

Holder, of the Cambria (a vessel just arrived 
from England), one of my men came in with 
the startling news that three live gorillas had been 
brought, one of them full grown. I had not long 
to wait ; in they came. First, a very large adult 
female, bound hand and foot; then her female 
child, screaming terribly ; and lastly, a vigorous 
young male, also tightly bound. The female had 
been ingeniously secured by the negroes to a strong 
stick, the wrists bound to the upper part and the 
ankles to the lower, so that she could not reach to 
tear the cords with her teeth. It was dark, and 
the scene was one so wild and strange that I shall 
never forget it. The fiendish countenances of the 
Oalibanish trio, one of them distorted by pain, for 
the mother gorilla was severely wounded, were lit up 
by the ruddy glare of native torches. The thought 
struck me, what would I not give to have the group 
in London for a few days ! 

The young male I secured by a chain which I had 
in readiness, and gave him henceforth the name of 
Tom. We untied his hands and feet ; to show his 
gratitude for this act of kindness he immediately 
made a rush at me, screaming with all his might ; 
happily the chain was made fast, and I took care 
afterwards to keep out of his way. The old mother 
gorilla was in an unfortunate plight. She had an 
arm broken and a wound in the chest, besides being 
dreadfully beaten on the head. She groaned and 
roared many times during the night, probably from 
pain. 

I noticed next day, and on many occasions, that the 



Chap. HI. THREE MORE LIYE GORILLAS. 55 

vigorous young male whenever lie made a. rush at 
any one and missed his aim, immediately ran back. 
This corresponds with what is known of the habits of 
the large males in their native woods ; when attacked 
they make a furious rush at their enemy, break an 
arm or tear his bowels open, and then beat u retreat, 
leaving their victim to shift for himself. 

The wounded female died in the course of the 
next day ; her meanings were more frequent in the 
morning, and they gradually became weaker as her 
life ebbed out. Her death was like that of a human 
being, and afflicted me more than I could have 
thought possible. Her child clung to her to the last, 
and tried to obtain milk from her breast after she 
was dead. I photographed them both when the 
young one was resting in its dead mother's lap. I 
kept the young one alive for three days after its 
mother's death. It moaned at night most piteously. 
I fed it on goat's milk, for it was too young 
to eat berries. It died the fourth day, having 
taken an unconquerable dislike to the milk. It 
had, I think, begun to know me a little. As 
to the male, I made at least a dozen attempts to 
photograph the irascible little demon, but all in vain. 
The pointing of the camera towards him threw him 
into a perfect rage, and I was almost provoked to 
give him a sound thrashing. The day after, how- 
ever, I succeeded with him, taking two views, not 
very perfect, but sufficient for my object. 

I must now relate how these three animals were 
caught, premising that the capture of the female was 
the first instance that had come to my knowledge of 



56 SEARCH FOR THE GORILLA AND THE IPL Chap. HI. 

an adult gorilla being taken alive. Tlie place where 
the J were found was on the left bank of the Fernand 
Vaz, about thirty miles above my village. At this 
part a narrow promontory projects into the river. 
It was the place where I had intended to take the 
distinguished traveller, Captain Burton, to show him 
a live gorilla, if he had paid me a visit, as I had 
expected, for I had written to invite him whilst he 
was on a tour from his consulate at Fernando Po 
to several points on the West African coast. A 
woman, belonging to a neighbouring village, had 
told her people that she had seen two squads of 
female gorillas, some of them accompanied by their 
young ones, in her plantain field. The men resolved, 
to go in chase of them, so they armed themselves 
with guns, axes, and spears, and sallied forth. The 
situation was very favourable for the hunters ; they 
formed a line across the narrow strip of land and 
pressed forward, driving the animals to the edge of 
the water. When they came in sight of them, 
they made all the noise in their power, and thus 
bewildered the gorillas, who were shot or beaten 
down in their endeavours to escape. There were 
eight adult females altogether, but not a single male. 
The negroes thought the males were in conceal- 
ment in the adjoining woods, having probably been 
frightened away by the noise. 

This incident led me to modify somewhat the 
opinions I had expressed, in ' Adventures in Equa- 
torial Africa,' regarding some of the habits of the 
gorilla. I there said that I believed it impossible to 
capture an adult female alive, but- I ought to have 



Chap. III. MODIFICATION OF OPINIONS. 57 

added, unless wounded. I have also satisfied myself 
that the gorilla is more gregarious than I formerly 
considered it to be ; at least it is now clear that, at 
certain times of the year, it goes in bands more 
numerous than those I saw in my former journey. 
Then I never saw more than five together. I 
have myself seen, on my present expedition, two 
of these bands of gorillas, numbering eight or ten, 
and have had authentic accounts from the natives of 
other similar bands. It is true that, when gorillas 
become aged, they seem to be more solitary, and to 
live in pairs, or, as in the case of old males, quite 
alone. I have been assured hj the negroes that 
solitary and aged gorillas are sometimes seen almost 
white; the hair becomes grizzled with age, and I 
have no doubt that the statement of their becoming 
occasionally white with extreme old age is quite 
correct. 

After reconsidering the whole subject, I am com- 
pelled also to state that I think it highly probable 
that gorillas, and not chimpanzees, as I was formerly 
inclined to think, were the animals seen and captured 
by the Carthaginians under Hanno, as related in the 
^Periplus.' Many circumstances combine in favour 
of this conclusion. One of the results of my late 
journey has been to prove that gorillas are nowhere 
more common than on the tract of land between the 
bend of the Fernand Yaz and the sea-shore ; and, as 
this land is chiefly of alluvial formation, and the 
bed of the river constantly shifting, it is extremely 
probable that there were islands here in the time of 
Hanno. The southerly part of the land is rather 
6 



58 SEARCH FOR THE GOEILLA AND THE IPI. Chap. HI. 

hilly, and, even if it were not then an island, the 
Carthaginians in rambling a short distance from the 
beach would see a broad water (the Fernand Yaz) 
beyond them, and would conclude that the land was 
an island. 

Grorillas are attracted to this district by the quan- 
tity of a little yellow berry, called mhimo, growing 
there on a tree resembling the African teak, and 
by the abundance of two other kinds of fruits, of 
which they are very fond, and which grow on the 
sandy soil of this part of the coast-land ; one of these 
fruits is called nionien^ about the size of a nectarine, 
and of the colour of the peach, but not having the 
rich bloom of this fruit ; it is produced by a shrub 
that creeps over the sandy soil ; the other resembles 
in size and colour the wild plum, and is a fruit of 
which I am myself very fond. 

The passage in the ' Periplus ' which I mentioned 
in ' Equatorial Africa ' is to the following effect : — 
" On the third day, having sailed from thence, 
passing the streams of fire, we came to a bay 
called the Horn of the South. In the recess was an 
island like the first, having a lake, and in this there 
was another island full of wild men. But much the 
greater part of them were women with hairy bodies, 
whom the interpreters called gorillas. . . . But, 
pursuing them, we were not able to take the men ; 
they all escaped from us by their great agility, being 
cremnohates (that is to say, climbing precipitous rocks 
and trees), and defending themselves by throwing 
stones at us. We took three women, who bit and 
tore those who caught them, and were unwilling to 



Chap. III. THE CABTHAaiNIANS AND THE GOKILLA. 59 

follow. We were obliged, therefore, to kill them, 
and took their skins off, which skins were brought 
to Carthage, for we did not navigate farther, pro- 
visions becoming scarce." 

These statements appear to me, with the fresh 
knowledge I have gained on the present expedition, 
to agree very well with the supposition that' the bold 
Carthaginians reached the country near the mouth 
of the Fernand Vaz in their celebrated voyage, and 
that the hairy men and women met with were males 
and females of the Trolodytes gorilla. Even the name 
"gorilla," given to the animal in the 'Periplus/ is 
not very greatly different from its native name at 
the present day, " ngina " or " ngilla," especially in 
the indistinct way in which it is sometimes pro- 
nounced. I now think it far more likely that the 
gorilla was the animal seen and not the chimpanzee, 
which is generally less gregarious, and is not often 
found near the sea-coast. As to the theory that 
Hanno's hairy men and women were some species of 
baboon, I think that very unlikely ; for why would 
the Carthaginians hang the skins in the temple 
of Juno on their return to Carthage, and preserve 
them for so many generations, as related by Pliny, 
if they were simply the skins of baboons, animals so 
common in Africa that they could scarcely have been 
considered as anything extraordinary by a nation of 
traders and travellers like the Carthaginians. 

The gorilla is of migratory habits at some seasons 
of the year. He is then not found in the districts 
usually resorted to by him when the berries, fruits, 
and nuts are in season. 



CHAPTER IV. 

* STAKT FOE THE INTEEIOE. 

Arrival of a fresli supply of Scientific Instruments — The first Steamer on 
tlie Fernand Vaz — Preliminary trip to Goumbi — Astonishment of the 
Natives at the :5re-vessel — ^Despatch Collections to England — Live 
Gorilla embarked for London — His habits in confinement — Narrow 
escape of drowning when embarked — Preparations completed — Last 
look at the sea — Outfit — Body guard of Commi men — Affecting part- 
ing scenes — I am deceived by Olenga-Yombi — The renowned doctor, 
Oune-jiou-e-niar^ — Arrival at Goumbi — Observations to fix latitude 
and altitude of Goumbi — Quengueza's invocation of his Forefathers — 
Disobedient Wives — Excessive Drought — Obindji — Opposition of 
Bakalai — Arrival of Ashira Porters — ^Passage of the hills to Olenda. 

On the SOtli of June, I bade adieu to my friend 
Olenga-Yombi, and started for Plateau. I hardly 
left the ebando, when I espied the sail of a canoe that 
was coming towards us from the direction of the 
mouth of the river. On our meeting, the men in 
the canoe shouted out, "Your vessel has arrived." 
How glad I was — no news could have been more 
welcome ! My men pulled with renewed vigour, and 
we reached Plateau that night. There I found 
awaiting me a letter from Messrs. Baring of London, 
who had kindly sent a vessel with goods and stores 
for which I had written, and also with a fresh supply 
of scientific instruments, to replace those spoilt in 
the surf. My sets were not, however, completed 
until a month afterwards, when other instruments 
reached me by way of the Graboon ; my best chro- 



Chap. IV. AEKIVAL OF FEESH STOEES. 61 

nometer was brought me by Captain Yardon on bis 
return voyage from London in September. I bad 
then three sets and was prepared for accidents which 
might occur in crossing rivers and so forth. I had 
sent the damaged chronometers and sextants to Eng- 
land through the Eev. W. Walker of the Gaboon ; 
this being the only way I could send them at that 
time. They went to the Gaboon in a native boat, 
and were sent by Mr. Walker to the English consul 
at Fernando Po, who kindly shipped them in the 
mail steamer for Liverpool. I must here record my 
thanks to Mr. Graves, now M.P. for Liverpool, who 
took the trouble to receive the instruments and trans- 
mit them to London, where my friends had them 
repaired or replaced by new ones. Not the least 
welcome was a box of medicines sent to me by 
my good friend, Robert Cooke. My kind friends, 
the American missionaries at the Gaboon, also sent 
me a supply of medicines and other things. But 
their letters were not of a kind to bring me much 
consolation : they were not so hopeful as I was of 
success in my undertaking, and although they did 
not so express themselves, I could see they thought I 
should never return. 

An interesting event occurred in July, which is 
worth recording here. It was the arrival of a French 
steamer, the first steam vessel ever seen in the waters 
of the Fernand Vaz. Some of my negroes came 
into my hut one morning in great consternation, and 
breathless with running, to say that a great, smoking 
ship of war had come down the Npouloimay river. 
I asked how many guns it had. " Ten," they replied 



62 STAET FOR THE INTERIOR. Chap. IY. 

without hesitation. The vessel turned out to be a 
small flat-bottomed river boat forty feet in length, 
belonging to an old friend of mine, Dr. Touchard 
(Ohirurgien de Marine, l''^ classe), which he had 
bought with the intention of exploring in it the 
rivers of Equatorial Africa, and which he had lent 
to the French authorities at the Gaboon ; it was now 
commanded bj Lieutenant -Labigot of the French 
Navy. I need hardly say that the ten guns were 
only products of the imagination of my excited 
negroes, the vessel had no guns at all. It was 
ironically named the Leviathan^ and had been built, 
originally, as a pleasure boat, for the navigation of 
the Seine near Paris. It entered the Fernand Yaz by 
way of the Npoulounay river, having first explored, 
in company with a larger vessel, the river Ogobai. 
The present trip was planned simply from a desire to 
pay me a visit. 

The service on which Lieut. Labigot and Dr. 
Touchard were employed was the completion of the 
survey of the Ogobai river, which had been com- 
menced three years previously by Messrs. Serval and 
Grriffon du Bellay, the French Government having 
shown recently great enterprise in the exploration of 
this region. On neither expedition were the larger 
vessels able to ascend the Ogobai, on account of the 
shallowness of the water, the season chosen not being 
favourable. Lieut. Labigot and Dr. Touchard had, 
however, the perseverance to ascend in boats, or in 
the little steamer, as far as the junction of the 
Okanda and Ngouyai rivers; they were the first 
Europeans who had reached this point, and it is to 



Chap. IY. TEIP TO GOUMBI. 63 

be hoped, in tlie interests of science, that the result 
of their voyage will soon be made public. 

The Leviathan afterwards foundered in a squall 
at the Glaboon, and I was extremely sorry to hear 
that the loss was not made good to my friend Dr. 
Touchard by the French Government, but I hope 
that it has been by this time. 

On July 12th we started in the steamer for an 
excursion to Goumbi, about seventy miles up the 
river, setting at defiance the law of the Commi that 
no white man (except myself) should ascend the 
stream. For the first twenty miles we had a stiff 
breeze ; we had then reached a small village on the 
left bank where a Portuguese trader, agent for an 
English house of business, was settled ; there we 
passed the night. On the 13th we started early and 
reached Goumbi at half-past ^yq p.m. 

The apparition of a steam vessel in these solitary 
waters put the whole country into a state of excite- 
ment. The natives came forth in troops from the 
villages and crowded the banks. Some were stupified ; 
others, recognising me on the deck as we passed, put 
out in their canoes and paddled might and main in 
their attempts to catch us. At the point where the 
river, in descending from the interior, bends from 
its westerly course, the banks are high and wooded ; 
here the steamer puffed its way right up to the villages 
before it was seen, and the frightened natives peeped 
from the top of the banks and ran away again. 

Old Quengueza was proud of this visit of the white 
men in their fire-vessel, and turned towards his 
attendant Bakalai and Ashira with looks of supreme 



64 STAET FOE THE INTERIOR. Chap. IV. 

contempt. We remained in Goumbi all day on tlie 
14tli, and, on tlie IStli, ascended the river to three or 
four miles beyond the junction of the Niembai. The 
vain old African chieftain accompanied us unat- 
tended, and he seemed thoroughly to enjoy his trip. 
I made him put on a European coat and cap for the 
occasion, although nothing would induce him to wear 
a shirt, and had a chair placed on deck for him to sit 
upon. Here he remained the whole time, with a self- 
complacent smile on his grim features which was 
almost laughable to look at. He took care to let the 
people of the villages we passed see him, and calcu- 
lated no doubt on increasing his influence on the 
river by this important event. At this point we 
were obliged to stop in our upward progress, on 
account of the numerous fallen trees obstructing the 
navigation, and on the 16th we returned to Plateau. 
A few days after this excursion with Lieut. 
Labigot and Dr. Touchard, I was honoured by an 
intended visit from the British Commodore Com- 
manding the West African squadron, Commodore 
A. P. Eardley-Wilmot. He called on his way along 
the coast, in his flag ship, oif the mouth of the river, 
and learning from the master of the trading vessel 
anchored there that the bar was unsafe for the ship's 
boats, he left a message for me expressing his regret 
that he was unable to come up the river and see me. 
He inquired regarding the preparations for my expe- 
dition into the interior. I much regretted being 
unable to see Commodore Wilmot, who I knew took 
a warm interest in all scientific enterprises in the 
countries of Western Africa, and would, I am sure. 



Chap. IY. COLLECTIONS DESPATCHED TO ENGLAND 65 

have done anytMng in his power to have helped me 
in my undertaking. 

On the 18th of Angnst I despatched by Captain 
Berridge to England, all the collections in Natural 
History that I had made up to that date. They in- 
eluded a second collection of skulls of various tribes 
of negroes, fifty-four in number, in illustration of the 
Anthropology of this part of Africa ; six skins and 
seven skeletons of the gorilla ; one skin and two 
skeletons of the chimpanzee, two skins and skeletons 
of the large scaly ant-eater (the Ipi), three skeletons 
of the manatee, one skeleton of Genetta Fieldiana, 
besides other mammals, and 4500 insects as specimens 
of the entomology of the Fernand Vaz region. The 
collection I am glad to say arrived in London safely, 
and a great part of it was afterwards deposited in the 
British Museum. I also sent a living specimen of 
the singular wild hog of this region {P otamoclioerus 
alhifrons\ and two live fishing eagles. The hog I 
presented to the Zoological Society of London, and I 
believe it is still living in their gardens in Eegent's 
Park. 

The whole of the mammals, including the skins and 
skeletons of the gorilla, I sent to the British Museum, 
with a request to my honoured friend, Professor 
Owen, the Superintendent of the Zoological Depart- 
ment, to select any specimens from the collection 
that the Museum required, and present them in my 
name to the national collection. I was much pleased 
to learn afterwards that several of the specimens 
were accepted. I felt that I had done something to 
repay the debt of gratitude which I owed to the large- 




66 STAET FOR THE INTERIOR. • Chap. IV 

hearted British nation who had so generously wel- 
comed me when I arrived in England, an unknown 
traveller, from my former arduous journey. One of 
the male gorillas proved to be a much larger and 
finer specimen than the former one, which many must 
have seen at the end of the Zoological Gallery in the 
museum ; it has therefore been mounted and set up 
in its place, where I would recommend all who wish 
to see a really fine specimen of this most wonderful 
animal to go and see it. 

The large collection of skulls made in so short a 
time will surprise many people, especially travellers 
in other wild countries who find skulls of natives 
generally very difficult to obtain. But with the 
money and trade-loving negro many strange things 
are possible. It was necessary first to overcome the 
scruples of the Commi people, and this I did by 
explaining to them why I wanted the skulls ; so I 
told them that there was a strong party among the 
doctors or magic-men in my country who believed 
that negroes were apes almost the same as the 
gorilla, and that I wished to send them a number 
of skulls to show how much they were mistaken. 
When I backed up this statement by the offer of 
three dollars' worth of goods for each skull they 
might bring, I soon obtained a plentiful supply ; in 
fact, I was obliged afterwards to reduce the price. 
The skulls brought me were almost always those of 
slaves from the far interior, who had died in the 
coast country; and, as corpses are laid simply on 
the ground in the native cemeteries, the transaction 
was much simplified. Nevertheless, the sale of a 



Chap. IY. - TEAFFIC IN SKULLS. 67 

skull was always treated as a secret matter. The 
negroes would bring them only at night and by 
stealth, carefully wrapped up in a parcel, and dis- 
guising the shape of the contents, or covering the 
top with a few sweet potatoes, to mislead any one 
whom they might meet. 

Sometimes two negroes engaged in this sort of 
contraband traffic would meet, by accident, in my 
house, each with a suspicious-looking bundle under 
his arm. They would look at each other in a shy, 
half-ashamed manner, and then burst out laughing, 
but finally swearing to keep one another's secret. 
Skull-selling, however, never became an open, public 
business. One day old Rabolo came to me, his 
countenance beaming with satisfaction, and said, in 
a half whisper : — 

" Chaillie, I shall have something for you to-night 
which will make your heart glad." 

" What is that ? " I inquired. 

" Eogala, my little Ishogo slave, is sick, and will 
die to-night : I know it. You have often asked for 
an Ishogo head, and now you shall have one." 

I was horrified at the old chief's coolness in thus 
dispensing skulls before their owners were dead, and 
insisted upon his showing me the sick boy. He led 
me to the dark shed where the poor slave lay ill. 
The child was dreadfully emaciated with dysentery, 
the disease of which a great many slaves die when 
brought from the interior. He thought himself 
he was going to die ; but I undertook to prescribe 
for him. I ordered one of Rabolo's wives to give 
him warm food. I sent them chickens to make broth 



68 STAET FOR THE INTERIOR Chap. IV. 

With, and myself administered quinine and a little 
wine. In a few days lie was much better, and finally 
recovered. Thus Eabolo was disappointed in his 
little skull-dealing transaction, but in compensation 
saved hjis slave. 

Besides these collections I embarked a live gorilla, 
our little friend Tom, and had full hopes that he 
would arrive safely and gratify the world of London 
with a sight of this rare and wonderful ape in the 
living state; unfortunately, he died on the passage. 
He did very well for a few weeks, I am told, as long 
as the supply of bananas lasted which I placed on 
board for his sustenance. The repugnance of the 
gorilla to cooked food, or any sort of food except the 
fruits and juicy plants he obtains in his own wilds, 
will always be a difficulty in the way of bringing 
him to Europe alive. I had sent him consigned to 
Messrs. Baring, who, I am sure, never had any such 
consignment before. I promised the Captain that he 
should receive one hundred pounds if he succeeded in 
taking the animal alive to London. 
yC During the few days Tom was in my possession 
he remained, like all the others of his species that I 
had seen, utterly untractable. The food that was 
offered to him he would come and snatch from the 
hand, and then bolt with it to the length of his 
tether. If I looked at him he would make a feint of 
darting at me, and in giving him water I had to 
push the bowl towards him with a stick, for fear of 
his biting me. When he was angry I saw him often 
beat the ground and his legs with his fists, thus 
showing a similar habit to that of the adult gorillas 



Chap. IV. LIVE GOKILLA EMBAEKED FOR LONDON. 09 

which I described as beating their breasts with their 
fists when confronting an enemy. Before laying 
down to rest he used to pack his straw very care- 
fully as a bed to lie on. Tom used to wake me in 
the night by screaming suddenly, and in the morn- 
ing I more than once detected him in the atteinpt to 
strangle himself with his chain, no doubt through 
rage at being kept prisoner. He used to twist the 
chain round and round the post to which it was 
attached until it became quite short and then pressed 
with his feet the lower part of the post until he had w^ 
nearly done the business. ^«***^ 

As I have before related, I took photographs of 
Tom, and succeeded very well. These photographs 
I was unwilling to send home, and kept them 
until I should have completed my whole series of 
photographs of African subjects. They are now, 
unfortunately, lost for ever; for they were left 
behind in the bush during my hurried retreat from 
Ashango-land_, as will be related in the sequel. 

When the last boat which took on board the Captain 
and the live animals left the shore for the vessel, I 
trembled for the safety of the cargo, for the surf was 
very rough. The negroes, however, could have ma- . 
•naged to get her safely through if they had not been too 
careful. They were nervous at having a white man 
on board, and did not seize the proper moment to pass 
the breakers ; their hesitation was very near proving 
fatal, for a huge billow broke over them and filled 
the boat. It did not, happily, upset, but they had 
to return. Captain Berridge thus escaped with 
a wetting, and the Potamochoerus and eagles were 



70 STAET FOR THE INTERIOR. Chap. IV. 

half drowned. As to poor Tom, tlie batTi, instead 
of cooling his courage, made him more violent than 
ever. He shouted furiously, and as soon as I 
opened the door of his cage he pounced on the 
bystanders, clinging to them and screaming. A 
present of a banana, which he ate voraciously, 
quieted him down, and the passage was again tried 
in the afternoon with a better result. 

At length my preparations were completed. 
Towards the end of September my canoes were 
loaded, and I had selected the men who were to 
accompany me on my journey. 

On the 28th I crossed the tongue of land which 
separated my village from the sea-shore, to test my 
boiling-point thermometers and aneroids at the level 
of the sea, preparatory to my departure inland. 
Having finished, and wishing to be alone, I sent 
back my negro lad with the instruments and took a 
last solitary walk along the sands. I watched the long 
waves breaking on the beach, and my mind gradually 
turned to the other shores in the far north washed 
by the same sea : I thought of the dear friends I had 
left there, and a spirit of sadness filled my mind. I 
thought of the dangers of the undertaking to which* 
I was pledged, and felt that perhaps I might never 
more return. I believe there was not a friend, or a 
person from whom I had received a kindness, that I 
did not call to mind; and I also thought of those 
other persons who had tried to do me all the 
injury in their power, and forgave them from the 
bottom of my heart. I took a last look at the 



Chap. IV. BODY-GUARD OF COMMI MEN. 71 

friendly sea, and prayed God tliat I might live to 
see it again. 

My expedition was an affair of great importance for 
the whole of the Commi tribe. Quengueza, who was 
more disinterested than the other chiefs — for he was 
actuated only by a sense of the importance the friend- 
ship of the white man conferred upon him — came down 
the river to bear me company ; Olenga-Yombi came 
from Cape St. Catherine to assist in the ceremony of 
my departure, with an eye to getting as much out of 
me as he could, and Eanpano, with his nephew and 
heir, Djombouai, attended to accompany me part of 
the way. 

My stores and outfit filled two large canoes. I had 
no less than forty-seven large chests of goods, besides 
ten boxes containing my photographic apparatus and 
chemicals, and fifty voluminous bundles of miscel- 
laneous articles. I had also in ammunition 500 lbs. 
of coarse and fine powder, 350 lbs. of shot, and 3,000 
ball cartridges. For the transport of these things by 
land I should require, including my body-guard of 
the Commi tribe, more than 100 men. I chose for 
my body-guard ten faithful negroes, some of whom 
had accompanied me on my former journey. It was 
on these men that my own safety, among the savage 
and unfriendly tribes we might expect to meet with in 
the far interior, depended. I knew I could thoroughly 
rely upon them, and that, come what might, they 
would never hurt a hair of my head. It would have 
suited my plans better if I could have obtained 
twenty-five Commi men, but this was not possible. 
Many were willing to go, but their parents objected. 



72 S.TAET FOR THE INTEEIOR. Chap. IV. 

The best of them were mj boy Macondai, now 
grown a stalwart young man and completely devoted 
to me, and my hunter Igala, a good and faithful 
friend. Macondai will be recollected by some of the 
readers of my former book, as having accompanied 
me on almost all my wanderings in this region. 
I had brought him, as a present, a double-barrelled 
gun from England, and he soon became a good 
shot. He was more attached to me than any of 
the others, and I could more safely trust him, as he 
was free from the superstitions and vain fears of his 
countrymen and cared nothing for fetiches. He was 
brave and honest, and helped me to guard my property 
in our long marches in the interior. Igala I considered 
my right-hand man. He was a negro of tall figure and 
noble bearing, cool and clear-headed in an emergency, 
brave as a lion, but with me docile and submissive. 
In our most troublesome marches he used to lead the 
van, whilst I brought up the rear to see that the porters 
did not run away with their loads. I could always 
rely upon him ; and, with twenty such as he, there 
would be little difficulty in crossing Africa. He was 
also my taxidermist, for I had taught him to skin and 
preserve animals. His reputation was great amongst 
the Oommi as a hunter, and he used to make quite a 
trade by selling fetiches to the credulous people who 
wished to possess his skill and good luck in this 
respect. Igala, however, had a weakness ; he was too 
amorous, and his intrigues with the wives of chiefs 
gave me no end of trouble. Another good man was 
Rebouka, a big strapping negro, whose chief faults 
were bragging and a voracious appetite. Then there 



Chap. IY. AFFECTINa PARTINa SCENES. 73 

were Igalo, next to Macondai tlie youngest of the party, 
a light-coloured negro, excitable and tender-hearted ; 
and Mouitchi, Retonda, Eogueri, Igala (the second), 
Rapelina and Ngoma — six slaves given to me by the 
various chiefs whose friendship I had acquired on the 
banks of the Fernand Yaz. I dressed my men all 
alike in thick canvas trowsers, blue woollen shirts 
and worsted caps. Shirts being the more important 
article of dress, they had three each. Trowsers 
I had found it quite necessary for negroes to 
wear on a march, as they protected the legs from 
the stings of insects, from thorns, and many other 
injuries to which they are liable. Moreover each 
man had a blanket to keep him warm at night. 
All the six slaves had volunteered to accompany 
me ; they were not forced to go, against their will, 
at the command of their masters. It would have 
been much better if all my Commi attendants 
had been free-men, for some of the slaves after- 
wards gave me much trouble by ill-conduct, the 
result of that absence of self-respect and sense of 
responsibility which the free men alone possessed. 
Most of these men now handled fire-arms for the first 
time, and the possession of a gun to the six men who 
had been slaves all their lives was one of the induce- 
ments which made them willing to accompany me. 

Nearly all the people of the neighbouring villages 
came down to see us off. It was an affecting sight to 
see my negroes take leave of their families and 
friends. At the last moment, the young daughter of 
Igala clung to her father, and with a flood of tears 
begged him not to go with the white man on the okili 
7 



74 STAET FOR THE INTERIOR. Chap. IV. 

mpolo (the long road). Igala consoled her by saying, 
" Do not cry, my child, I am coming back ; we shall 
reach the other side, and bring plenty of beads for 
you from the white man's country." It was the 
universal belief of the Commi people that we were 
going across the land to England, and I was obliged 
to encourage them in this idea, which was the only 
way of rendering the journey comprehensible to 
them. My old friend. Captain Vardon, who had 
lately returned to the Fernand Yaz with the intention 
of establishing a factory, lent the villagers guns to 
fire off salvos on our departure, and was not behind 
hand in wishing me Grod speed. 

On the second of October we left '' Plateau :" 
on the 3rd we reached an ehando^ or palaver shed, on 
the banks of the river where King Olenga-Yombi, 
together with the other chiefs and people, had to 
settle some outstanding disputes of the neighbourhood, 
and to mpanga ncM^ or '* make the land straight," in 
general. To my great mortification, this council of 
wise-heads hindered us a whole week. I could not 
leave at once, as I had to receive from Olenga-Yombi 
the slaves that he had promised to give me to carry 
my goods, the payment for whose services he had 
already received in the shape of presents having 
that end in view. The palavers were numerous and 
difficult to settle. They related either to run-away 
wives (a fertile source of ill-will and bloodshed) or 
to homicides. When a man is killed here, if only 
by accident, satisfaction must be given. Deaths by 
accident are not more excusable than wilful murder. 
" An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth " is the 



Chap. IV. THE DOCTOR OUNE-JIOU-E-NIARE. 75 

maxim of the tribe, and the settlement of the compen- 
sation generally requires a formal palaver like the 
present one. 

As regards runaway wives the laws are very severe. 
Any wife refusing to remain with her husband, or 
running away, is condemned to have her ears and 
nose cut off. Any man debauching his neighbour's 
wife has to give a slave to the injured husband ; and, 
if he cannot pay this fine, he must have his ears and 
nose cut off. 

They have no laws to punish robbery. 

At length, on the 10th of October, I left the place 
alone and proceeded to the olako where the road to 
Aniambie commences. Here Olenga-Yombi followed 
three days afterwards and had the impudence to tell 
me his slaves had all run away and that I could not 
have any, as they were all afraid to come with me. 
I left in disgust, and in company with Quengueza 
proceeded on my voyage. 

We stopped for the night at a small Commi 
village, where lived a renowned Doctor named Oune- 
jiou-e-niare (head of a bullock). This was a most 
singular old man, possessed of much natural acuteness 
and at the same time a good deal of kindly humour. 
He was about seventy years of age, short of stature, 
very thin, and with a remarkably prominent chin, and 
piercing, deep-sunken eyes. He had the reputation 
of being a great prophet, and all the Commi people 
had great faith in what he said. My men asked 
him whether our journey would be prosperous. He 
replied that we should go very far, and that a chief 
would ask Chaillie to marry his daughter, and then 



76 STAET FOE THE INTEKIOE. Chap. IY. 

if Oliaillie gave her all she asked and made her heart 
glad, she would lead us from tribe to tribe until we 
reached the far-off sea where we wished to go. This 
speech inspired my men with new confidence. I must 
say that I felt very grateful to the old man. We all 
sorely needed encouragement in the great enterprise 
we had undertaken, and nothing was better calculated 
to buoy up the spirits of my half-hearted followers 
than these oracular sayings. 

We resumed our voyage, with quite a little fleet 
of canoes in company, on the 14th ; the heat was 
intense, and almost insupportable in the confine- 
ment of the boat ; we paddled till twelve o'clock at 
night, and towards the afternoon of the next day 
arrived at Goumbi. 

Here friend Quengueza behaved most royally. 
We revelled in plenty, and, if my object had been 
merely to stay here, all would have been pleasant. 
He soon made up his mind to accompany me to the 
capital of the Ashira country, and resolved to do it in 
a triumphal sort of way. But he continued to detain 
me, day after day, long after all our preparations were 
completed. The presence of a white man with stores 
of goods gave him consequence in the eyes of the 
neighbouring Bakalai, and he wished to prolong the 
novel enjoyment as long as he could. In his great 
generosity he franked all his wives to my men, but I 
overheard them one day complaining that the royal 
ladies were a grasjDing lot and drove very hard 
bargains. 

During my stay at Groumbi,. I undertook several 
short excursions in the neighbourhood and made 



Chap. IV. ASTEONOMICAL OBSEKVATIONS. 77 

observations to ascertain the altitude of the place and 
its geographical position ; which was very necessary, 
as it was placed on my map by mere calculation of 
distances travelled. Unfortunately I was unable to 
obtain lunar distances here, and therefore cannot SlX 
its longitude ; but the mean of several observations 
of the meridian altitude of the planet Mars and of two 
fixed stars gave the latitude as 1° 35' 34'' south — Le, 
no less than 23 miles further south than it had 
been placed on my former map, where it had been 
placed simply on calculation of distances travelled. 
The altitude of the town I found by means of my 
aneroid barometers to be 143 feet, and that of the 
hill-top behind the town 238 feet, above the sea- 
level. From the hill-top a wide view is obtained of 
the country round. It is hilly, but there are con- 
siderable tracts of level low land between the hills, 
and few of the hills appeared higher than that of 
Goumbi. 

I was obliged to resort to an artifice which I knew 
would be effective to get Quengueza to move. I 
pretended to be deeply offended with him for delay- 
ing me so long; and, giving Macondai orders to 
remove my bed away from the village, I left one 
evening and made preparations for sleeping under 
a shed at some distance from the place. Night had 
hardly set in when the old king, discovering my 
absence, made a great fuss, and, coming to where 
I lay, expressed his sorrow and repentance. He lay 
down by my side, and said that he would sleep 
where I slept. 

Thus, by dint of coaxing and threatening, I got 



78 STAKT FOE THE INTERIOB. Chap. IV. 

him, at length, to give the order for our departure, 
after we had spent thirteen days at Goumbi. It was 
scarcely day-light, on the 28th October, when I was 
awoke by the beating of the Kendo (royal bell) and 
the voice of the old chief invoking, in loud tones, the 
spirits of his ancestors to protect us on our journey. 
The roll of his ancestors was a formidable one^ 
Igoumbai, Wombi, Eebouka, IsTgouva, Ricati, Olenga 
Yombi ; but they were rather the deceased relations 
whose heads he had preserved in his mondah or 
alumbi* house. Quengueza was prouder than any 
chief I knew of the prowess of his deceased relatives, 
and there were, I believe, men of great bravery and 
ability amongst them. Quengueza himself was a bold 
and courageous warrior in his younger days. It is 
the rule in Western Africa, when chiefs have been 
warlike and enterprising in the days of their prince- 
hood, to become quiet and settled when they succeed 
to the chief authority, and then the people rob them ; 
for, as they say, if they do not steal from their 
father, from whom should they steal ? 

There were great difficulties as usual on the day of 
departure. Firstly, Quengueza' s chaste and faithful 
wives refused point blank to accompany him. This 
did not seem to concern him much, for, in every 
village of the Bakalai, a wife would be offered to him 
as the lord of the land ; but he was greatly excited 
when his slaves were not ready for the journey. 
Some of them had hid themselves, and others had 
run off to distant plantations. A large number of 
men were absolutely necessary to carry our loads 

* For description of tlie Alumbi house, see p, 199. 



Chap. IY. STOEY OF THE DKY AND WET SEASONS. 79 

wlien we commenced our land journey. The old 
cliief threatened to shoot them down right and left if 
they forced him to use strong measures, and in this 
way about thirty were mustered. 

We started at 10 a.m. on the 28th of October, 
halting at night at the junction of the Niembai 
and the Ovenga. It being the dry season, and fish 
plentiful at this place, we resolved to pass the night 
here. Our camp was a lively one in the evening, for 
we caught a great quantity of fish ; the smoke of many 
fires ascended amongst the trees on the river's bank, 
and all had their fill. Jokes and laughter and tale- 
telling were carried on far into the night. 

I was much amused by the story one of the men 
related about the dry and wet seasons. The remark- 
able dryness of the present season had been talked 
over a good deal, and it was this conversation that 
led to the story. As usual with the African, the two 
seasons were personified, Nclianga being the name of 
the wet, and Enomo that of the dry season. One 
day, the story went, Nchanga and Enomo had a 
great dispute as to which was the older, and they 
came at last to lay a wager on the question, which 
was to be decided in an assembly of the people of the 
air or sky. Nchanga said, " When I come to a place 
rain comes." Enomo retorted, " When I make my 
appearance the rain goes." The people of the air all 
listened, and, when the two disputants had ceased, 
they exclaimed, " Yerily, verily, we cannot tell which 
is the eldest, you must both be of the same age." 

The dry season this year was an unusual one for the 
long absence of rain and lowness of the rivers. The 



80 STAET FOE THE INTEEIOK. Chap. IV. 

negroes have a special name for a season of tliis sort, 
calling it enomo onguero; it lasts five months, and 
they assure me that it always comes after a long 
series of dry seasons of the nsual length. We have 
had a few showers, bnt they have produced no im- 
pression. The effect of the tide is perceived as far 
as the junction of the Niembai, at least at this time 
of the year (the dry season) ; above this point the 
current of the Ovenga is too strong to allow it to 
pass further. I took here only one meridian alti- 
tude of Fomalhaut, and have fixed the latitude by 
computation of my dead reckoning. 

Next day we proceeded up stream. The Ovenga 
was very low, about twenty feet below the high-water 
mark of the rainy season ; the current was generally 
three miles an hour, but, in some places, four miles ; 
it was encumbered with fallen trees, and our journey 
was difficult and slow. 

A little before reaching the village of Obindji we 
found an obstacle in the way of our further progress. 
The Bakalai had made a fence across the river to 
bar the passage, leaving only a gap near the shore 
for small canoes to pass. This had been done on 
account of some petty trade-quarrel which the people 
of this tribe had had with their neighbours. Nothing 
could have happened more offensive to the pride of 
Quengueza than the erection of this bar without his 
having been consulted — ^he, the king of the Rembo 
(river), travelling in company with his ntanganil 
It made him appear as though he had no authority. 
As soon as he saw the obstacle his face changed 
colour, and, getting up in a violent rage, he called 



Chap. IY. OBINDJI. 81 

for axes and cutlasses. The fence was demoHslied in 
a few seconds, a number of Bakalai looking on from 
the bank armed with guns and spears. 

From the 30th October to the 5th November we 
were detained at Obindji, waiting for porters from 
the Ashira country to carry my baggage overland. 
Our camp was pitched on a wooded point of land 
opposite to the village, and below the junction of the 
Ofoubou with the Ovenga. 

The town of Obindji has been erroneously placed 
in maps, published since my first exploration of this 
country, on the eastern bank of the Ofoubou ; it is 
in reality situated on the western side. It is built 
at the foot of a fine wooded hill ; indeed, the whole 
country around is clothed with forest of great luxu- 
riance and beauty. From the northern bank of the 
Ovenga, on which our camp was placed, stretches 
a long point of beautiful white sand ; this sand, in 
the dry season, connects the point with the mainland 
of the right bank of the Ovenga. The sand is then 
most delightful to walk on, especially in the early 
morning, when the natives ramble about to dig up 
the eggs of a species of fresh-water turtle laid during 
the night. The turtle was the species that I dis- 
covered in my former journey, Aspidonectes Aspilus, 

I was glad to find my old acquaintance Obindji, 
one of the chiefs of the Bakalai of the Ovenga, look- 
ing as well as ever. He was a faithful ally and 
friend of Quengueza, who was his superior chief, in 
the sense of his being king of the river, and having 
the right of road and trade both up and down. This 
section of the Bakalai tribe had been led to abandon 



82 STAET FOR THE INTERIOR. Chap. IV. 

the migratory and warlike habits which distinguish 
their brethren, chiefly through the civihzing in- 
fluences of trade. Their settlement in one of the 
richest districts of the river, where ebony abounded 
in the forests, almost necessitated their becoming 
traders, and they now collect large quantities of 
this valuable wood, which is getting scarce here. 
They have adhered loyally to the treaties made 
many years ago with Quengueza, who allows them 
to trade on the river on condition that they abstain 
from war. Their women have, besides, become wives 
of the Commi in many cases. One of the privileges 
of Quengueza, attached to his acknowledged sove- 
reignty, is the choice of the wives of the Bakalai 
chiefs whenever he sleeps at a village. He has the 
same right over the Ashira ; the chief is obliged to 
give up even his konde, or head wife, if Quengueza 
takes a fancy to her, and his host considers it a great 
honour so to provide for the entertainment of his 
liege lord. 

When the porters arrived, and, on the eve of 
our departure into new countries, old Quengueza 
made a speech to my men. " You are going into 
the bush," said he ; " you will find there no one of 
your tribe ; look up to Ohaillie as your chief, and 
obey him. Now, listen to what I say. You will 
visit many strange tribes. If you see on the road, 
or in the street of a village, a fine bunch of plantains 
with ground-nuts lying by its side, do not touch 
them, leave the village at once ; this is a tricky 
village, for the people are on the watch to see what 
you do with them. If the people of any village tell 



Chap. IV. AREIVAL OF ASHIEA PORTEES. §3 

you to go and catch fowls or goats, or cut plantains 
for yourselves, say to them, ' Strangers do not help 
themselves ; it is the duty of a host to catch the goat 
or fowl, and cut the plantains, and hring the present 
to the house which has been given to the guest.' 
When a house is given to you in any village, keep 
to that house, and go into no other ; and, if you see 
a seat, do not sit upon it, for there are seats which 
none but the owners can sit upon. But, above all, 
beware of the women ! I tell you these things that 
you may journey in safety." The speech of the old 
sage was listened to with great attention. Like most 
other good advice, it was not followed ; if it had 
been, many of my subsequent troubles would have 
been avoided. 

Twelve more days were occupied in getting ready 
to start for Olenda. Messengers were sent to 
Olenda for more porters. Supplies of food had to be 
fetched from a distance, as there was great scarcity 
in the neighbourhood of Obindji ; otaitais, or baskets 
of a peculiar shape, had to be made for each porter 
to carry his load on his back ; and there were, be- 
sides, all the usual delays which are encountered 
when one has to deal with a body of negroes. 
Olenda only sent fifty men in all, whilst my bag- 
gage required at least a hundred porters. We were 
obliged, therefore, to send half of it on, and wait for 
the return of the men to carry the other half. I was 
quite frightened at the amount of my outfit, although 
I left behind everything that seemed not absolutely 
necessary. It was impossible to preserve any sort 
of discipline amongst these vivacious savages ; they 



84 STAET FOE THE INTERIOE. Chap. IV. 

struggled and quarrelled over their loads — the 
strongest anxious to carry the lightest burdens, 
and loading the youngest with the heaviest ; and, 
when the provisions for the journey had to be di- 
vided, there was a perfect scramble for the lots, the 
biggest and strongest getting the lion's share. The 
presence of two of King Olenda s nephews, Arangui 
and Mpoto, who were sent to command the unruly 
body, was of no avail. 

The otaitai, or porter's basket, as manufactured by 
these Africans, is an ingenious contrivance for the 
carriage of loads in safety on the back. It is long 
and narrow, being formed of a piece of strong cane- 
work (serving as the bottom) two and a half feet in 
length and nine inches in width, with sides of more 
open cane-work, capable of being expanded or drawn 
in, so as to admit of a larger or smaller load. Cords 
of bast are attached to the sides for the purpose of 
making fast the contents, and the bottom of the 
basket is closed in by a continuation of the sides, 
leaving the top- end (the part nearest the head when 
carried on the back) open, so as to allow of the aug- 
mentation of the load at the top. Straps made of 
strong plaited rushes secure the basket to the head 
and arms of the carrier. The wicker-work is made of 
strips of a very tough climbing plant, or rotang, and 
is always a neat specimen of workmanship. 

The first party started on the 8th, going up the 
Ofoubou river, a southern affluent of the Ovenga, in 
canoes, to the landing-place on the Olenda road. 
We had about this time several heavy showers, and 
the Ovenga rose so much that I was obliged twice 




OTAITAI. OR 1 outer's BASKET 



Chap. IY. PASSAGE OF THE HILLS TO OLENDA. 85 

to shift my hut to a higher position, and the point 
of land on which I was encamped, with its beach 
of white sand, became an island. By a series of 
observations I fonnd the river-level at Obindji to be 
fifty-four feet above the sea-level. I made many 
additions to my collections during my stay here. 
Insects were not numerous, but some of the lepidop- 
tera, attracted to the moist sand at the edge of the 
water, and floating about the flowering, bushes on 
the skirts of the forest, were very beautiful. Some 
of the butterflies {Romaleosomd) were magnificent, 
with their green and black wings ornamented be- 
neath with patches of crimson and yellow. These 
flew very swiftly, and were difficult to capture. 
Birds were scarce. I hunted in vain for the Musci- 
peta Duchaillui, of which I had only shot one speci- 
men in my former journey. 

The porters at length returned, and the remaining 
loads having been cleared off, Quengueza and I 
departed from Obindji on the 17th November. 
Paddling up the Ofoubou, we saw a very young cro- 
codile sunning itself on a log. One of our boys im- 
mediately swam off to seize it, but, just as he was 
about to grasp it by the neck, the reptile slid off and 
disappeared. It took us three hours and a half to 
reach the landing-place, Djali Coudie. Here we 
slept, and commenced our march the next morning 
(18th) at day-break. At a quarter-past eight we 
reached a steep hill, Nomba Eigoubou (369 feet), at 
the summit of which we stopped for breakfast. Then, 
resuming our march, we arrived at four p.m. at the 
base of a hill, called Ecourou, where we stopped for 



f^. 



86 STABT FOR THE INTEKIOR. Chap. IV. 

the night. There was here nothing to shelter ns but 
an old shed, loosely covered with pieces of bark. I 
wanted to roof it with fresh leaves, but we were 
guaranteed against rain by an Ashira doctor who 
was with us, and who blew his magic horn to drive 
it away. In the middle of the night a shower fell 
and almost drenched us. This did not, however, 
discompose the doctor and his believers, for he said 
if he had not blown his horn the rain would have 
been much heavier. 

Quengueza was an amusing companion on a march, 
for the oddities of his character seemed to be endless. 
He never travelled without his fetich, which was an 
ugly little pot-bellied image of wood, with a row 
of four cowries embedded in its abdomen. As he 
generally wore an old coat when he travelled with 
me, he used to keep this dirty little thing in one of 
the pockets. Waking or sleeping the fetich was 
never suffered to be away from him. Whenever he 
ate or drank he used to take the image and gravely 
pass its belly with the row of projecting cowries over 
his lips, and when I gave him liquor of any sort 
he would always take it out and pour a libation over 
its feet before drinking himself. Libations are great 
features in the religious rites of these Western 
Africans, as they were amongst the Ancient G-reeks. 
It used to puzzle me where the four sacred cowries 
came from ; they are unknown on the Fernand Vaz, 
and I believe came across the continent from Eastern 
Africa. 

Next morning (November 19th) we marched over 
a wild, hilly, and wooded country until eleven 



Chap. IV. AERIVAL AT OLENDA. 87 

o'clock, when we emerged on the pleasant undu- 
lating grass-land of Ashira. An extensive prospect 
here lay before us ; to the south extended the 
Igoumbi Andele and Ofoubou Orere ranges of hills, 
and to the north the lofty ridges of the Nkoumou 
Nabouali, near which lie the Falls of Samba Nagoshi. 
At two p.m. we entered, in the midst of the firing 
of guns and great hubbub, the village of Olenda. 



CHAPTER V. 

TESIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. 

King Olenda, his great age — Preparations for tlie journey to tlie Falls — We 
cross the Ovigui — Opangano Prairie — Ndgewho Mountains — Bakalai 
Village— A flock of Gorillas in the Forest — The Louvendji Eiver — 
Dihaou and the Ashira-Kamhas — Navigate the Ngonyai Eiver — ^The 
Aviia Tribe — ^Village of Mandji — ^Eiver Scenery — Nkoumou Nahouali 
Mountains — JSTami Gemha — Village of Luha — The Spirit of the Falls — 
Village Deity — Arrival at Fougamou, the principal Fall — Legend of 
Fougamou — Night Encampment — Eeturn to Dihaou — "We sup on a 
poisonous serpent — ^Forced March through flooded forest to Olenda. 

My old friend, King Olenda, gave me a warm wel- 
come. He had changed bnt little since I saw him 
last. His age must have been very great ; his cheeks 
were sunken, his legs and arms excessively thin and 
bony, and covered with wrinkled skin. He seemed 
to have hardly strength enough to support his own 
weight. The negroes say he has a powerful fetiph 
to guard him against death. I believe he was the 
oldest man I ever saw, and to me he was quite a 
curiosity. Olenda came constantly to see me during 
the few days I remained in his village. He was 
never tired of telling me that he loved me like a 
sweetheart ; but, when I called him to give him his 
present, he became rather too exacting. I said to 
him, " I thought you only loved me as a sweetheart, 
but I am afraid you love me for my goods." " Oh, 



Chap. V. PEEPAEATIONS FOE THE JOUENEY. 89 

no ! " said the old man, smiling, '^ I love you like a 
sweetheart for yourself, but I love your goods also." 

I have already, in the narrative of my former 
journey,"^ given a description of Ashira-land, and the 
customs of its people ; it will be unnecessary, there- 
fore, to recur to the subject in this place. It was not 
my intention to make any lengthened stay here on 
my present expedition ; but unforeseen obstacles, and 
an appalling calamity, as will presently be related, 
kept me here for several months. T had intended to 
stop in the country only a short time, sufficient to 
enable me to visit the Falls of Samba JNfagoshi, to the 
north of Olenda. The preparations for this excur- 
sion, out of the line of my eastward march, com- 
menced soon after I had paid our. porters, and gone 
through the ceremony of making a suitable present 
to the king and the principal chiefs. 

It will be recollected by some of my readers that 
I made an abortive attempt to reach these Falls from 
the Apingi country on my former expedition. I now 
learnt that my guides in that journey never intended 
to take me there ; orders having been received from 
the Commi country to that effect, my good friends 
there being afraid that some disaster might happen 
to me. No obstacle being now placed in my way, 
and having the powerful support of my friend 
Quengueza^ Olenda showed tolerable readiness in 
furnishing me with porters and guides, and we set 
off on the 1st December. 

We started in light marching order ; the only 
heavy baggage being my photographic camera, 

* * Adventures in Equatorial Africa,' chap. xxiv. 
8 



90 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

which I was determined to take in order to bring 
away accurate views of the splendid scenery which 
I expected to behold. Besides three Ashira guides, 
Arangui, Oyagui, and Ayagui, and two boys to 
carry the cooking-pots and ammunition, I took with 
me two Ashira Kamhas, natives of an outlying district 
of Ashira-land lying along the banks of the Ovigui 
river near its junction with the Ngouyai. These, 
with four of my faithful Commi boys, formed my 
party. I left my guns behind, taking only my 
revolvers. My boys carried their guns, but left 
behind their woollen-shirts and blankets, and every- 
thing that was not indispensible. 

We left Olenda at nine a.m., and pursued a N.-E. 
direction imtil we struck the Ovigui river. We 
had to cross this on a bridge formed of a single 
tree-trunk lying about fifteen feet above the water. 
We passed it with some difficulty, nearly losing my 
camera, owing to the timidity of the carrier when 
half-way across. From the eastern bank of the river 
the path led to the foot of a high range of hills, 
which bounds the Ashira plain on this side. At 
four p.m. we encamped for the night on the banks 
of a small stream. In the evening we had a frightful 
thunder-storm, and had to lie down for the night in 
wet clothes. 

December 2nd. Eesumed our march at six a.m. 
The path lay along the western foot of the hilly 
range, through a dense forest, the rich and varied 
foliage of which was dripping with moisture. Not 
a sound was heard, as we trudged steadily along in 
Indian file. At nine o'clock we came upon a beau- 



Chap. V. OPANaANO PRAIEIE. 91 

tiful prairie encircled by a wall of forest. This 
prairie was called Opangano. From it I had a clear 
view of the Ndgewho mountains. At ten o'clock 
we arrived at a Bakalai village. Like many of the 
primitive villages of this warlike tribe, it was art- 
fully constructed for purposes of defence. The single 
street was narrow, barred at each end by a gate, and 
the houses had no doors in their outer walls. This 
would effectually guard the place against nocturnal 
surprise by other Bakalai witli whom the villagers 
might be at war. This mode of construction had also 
another object, namely, to allow the people to kill 
and plunder any party of traders w£om they might 
entice into the village and prevent from escaping 
by closing the two gates. The neighbouring tribes, 
especially the Ashiras, dread the power and treachery 
of the Bakalai. The chief of the village was absent. 
I bought, for a few beads, a quantity of smoke-dried 
wild hog of one of the inhabitants. 

Leaving this place at one p.m., we pursued a north- 
easterly direction, and passing several other Bakalai 
villages, two of which were abandoned on account of 
some one having died there, reached at five o'clock 
the Lambengue prairie. It rained nearly the whole 
afternoon, and we had a disagreeable walk through 
the mire and over the slippery stones of the forest 
paths. We built sheds, and passed the night in the 
prairie. 

3rd. At six a.m. again on the march. My men were 
tired with the exertions of yesterday, for we had been 
wet all day, so, to keep them up to the speed, I led the 
column myself. We were soon buried again in the 



92 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

sjiades of the forest. It was a wild, desolate district, 
and I marched along in anything but a cheerful mood, 
thinking of the hard task I had imposed upon myself 
in attempting to cross Africa. I was going along, 
a little ahead of my party, when my reverie was 
suddenly disturbed by a loud crashing and rustling 
in the trees just before me. Thinking it might be a 
flock of monkeys feeding on some wild fruit-tree, I 
looked up, peered through the thick foliage, and was 
thoroughly roused by seeing on a large tree a whole 
group of gorillas. I had nothing but a walking-stick 
in my hand, but was so struck at the sight that I 
was rivetted to the spot. Meantime the animals had 
seen me, and began to hurry down the tree, making 
the thinner boughs bend with their weight. An old 
male, apparently the guardian of the flock, alone 
made a bold stand, and stared at me through an 
opening in the foliage. I could see his hideous 
black fac^, ferocious eyes, and projecting eye-brows, 
as he glared defiance at me. In my unarmed condi- 
tion I began to think of retracing my stejas, but the 
rest of my party coming up at the moment, with 
clatter of voices, altered the state of things. The 
shaggy monster raised a cry of alarm, scrambled to 
the ground through the entangled lianas that were 
around the tree-trunk, and soon disappeared into the 
jungle in the same direction as his mates. 

How I regretted to have left my double rifle 
behind me at Olenda ! I had this morning even 
divested myself o^my revolvers, having given them 
to my man Rebouka to carry, as I wished to be in 
light trim for leading the day's march. We were all 




(iOP.lLLAS SUKPRISEI) IN THE FOREST. 



Chap. V. THE LOUVENDJI RIVER. 93 

tired, and more or less unwell from the constant wet- 
ting we had had, and from sleeping in damp clothes. 
The gorillas were ten in number, and of different 
ages and sizes, but apparently all females except the 
one male. My men rushed after the beasts with 
their guns, but the chase was useless ; the forest had 
resumed its usual stillness, and we continued our 
march. 

At noon we arrived on the banks of the Louvendji 
river, a stream similar to the Ovigui, and flowing 
from the south towards the great JSFgouyai river, in 
which were the Falls of Samba Nagoshi. We break- 
fasted on the brink* of this pleasant stream flowing 
through the silent forest; our breakfast, as usual, 
consisting of boiled plantains, poor fare for the 
weary traveller whose bones were aching with the 
effects of overwork and exposure. The altitude of 
the river-level above the sea, according to my ane- 
roids, was 490 feet. 

Resuming our journey about one p.m. we soon got 
into a district of swamps, and had to wade at times 
up to the waist. In places where the water was 
only ankle-deep the. mud had a fetid smell. I found 
that my Ashira companions were taking me by a 
very roundabout way, and our journey was long and 
fatiguing, although we accomplished but a very 
moderate distance in a straight line. Their object 
was to avoid some of the Bakalai villages, with the 
inhabitants of which they had trade-palavers remain- 
ing unsettled. At half-past five p.m. we came again 
upon the Ovigui, where we had resolved to pass the 
night. As we emerged from the jungle, we were 



94 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

not a little surprised to see an encampment of 
natives. My Ashira companions soon fraternised 
with them, for they were Ashira Kambas who, with 
Dihaou their chief, were spending a few days fishing 
in the river. The chief received me with wild de- 
monstrations of joy, and thanked Olenda for sending 
the white man to him. 

Ath. Passed a wretched night. My bed was sim- 
ply a row of sticks, each about four inches in dia- 
meter, laid to protect me from the damp ground^ and 
a foraging party of the horrible Bashikonay ants 
came in the middle of the night and disturbed us for 
about an hour, inflicting upon us severe bites. 

Early in the morning we embarked on the Ovigui 
in a long, narrow, leaky, and cranky canoe, provided 
by the chief to enable us to make the rest of our way 
by water. The Ovigui was now a wide and deep 
stream, with a rapid current. We were nearly upset 
several times in the course of the first hour of our 
voyage. At the end of the hour we came to the 
mouth of the Louvendji, which here joins the Ovigui. 
In my former journey I was under the impression 
that the Louvendji falls into the Rembo, but it does 
not. It joins the Ovigui before that river falls into 
the Rembo. Below this we passed several Bakalai 
and Kamba villages, which are built a short distance 
away from the river bank. About four miles from 
the mouth of the Louvendji we arrived at the village 
of Dihaou, the chief town of the Ashira Kambas, 
where we had to stay in order to obtain proper intro- 
duction to the Aviia tribe, in whose territory were 
situated the Falls. 



CniP. V. DIHAOU AND THE ASHIKA KAMBAS. 95 

Dihaon is a cluster of three or four little villages, 
ea:cli containing about fifteen houses. Soon after I 
arrived presents came from the chief : twelve fowls, 
five bunches of plantains, and a goat. Our welcome 
was most friendly, and I felt almost sure of attaining 
the object for which I had come. 

bth. We were all glad of rest after the fatigues 
of our long march. My men all complained of sore 
feet. In the evening the chief, Dihaou Okamba, 
made me a formal visit to receive his return present. 
I gave him a few articles, and the gift, although I 
felt it to be an inadequate one, for I had not brought 
goods with me, seemed to please the old fellow very 
much. I promised him, however, a big coat, a neck- 
lace of large beads, and some salt, on my return to 
Olenda, on condition that he would send one of his 
sons with me to the Falls. I had forewarned him by 
message, that I could not make a sufficient return for 
the goat I heard he intended to give me ; but the old 
man had all the pride and generosity which these 
African chiefs usually show in dealing with the white 
man — at least, whilst the friendship is new. He sent 
back the reply : *' I should not like it to be said that 
Chaillie, the friend of Olenda, Chaillie my ntangani, 
came to my town, and that I had not a goat to give 
him to eat ; never." 

These Ashira Kambas consider themselves a distinct 
people from the Ashira of the prairie, over which 
Olenda and other chiefs ruled, and which are called 
Ashira Ngozai. I could not, however, detect any 
difference between them worthy • of note, either in 
their physique or customs, and the language of the 



96 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

two peoples is the same. By immemorial law of the 
country, the Ashira Ngozai are allowed to trade 
direct with the Kambas, but they are not permitted 
to go beyond them in their trading expeditions If 
an Ashira of the prairie wishes to trade with any 
tribe north of the Kamba country, he is obliged to 
employ Kambas as his agents, and must remain in 
Dihaou until the business is arranged. Otherwise he 
is compelled to leave his goods in the hands of some 
Kamba man, and trust to him in bartering them for 
produce with other tribes. I believe there was not a 
single Ashira Ngozai who had ever seen the Samba 
Nagoshi Falls, so effectual are the political barriers 
which are opposed to the travels of natives beyond 
the limits of their own and adjoining tribes. 

We had the usual difficulty in getting away from 
Dihaou. The African is never in a hurry to resume 
a march, and it gratifies the pride of the chief and 
gives him consequence amongst his neighbours to 
have the ntangani in his possession. Arangui, nephew 
of Olenda, who was my chief guide, gave me some 
trouble with his fears that the villagers wished to 
bewitch him through jealousy of the white man's 
friendship. I found it necessary, on the 6th of 
December, to address a speech to the chief and his 
subjects, telling them that I must go forward without 
further delay to the Samba Nagoshi, that I had to 
sherra mpaga^ " a wager to win," that our feet had 
rested long enough, and, finally, that I must be off 
the next day. Dihaou and his peo23le, as usual, 
retired a short distance to deliberate, and returned, 
the chief saying that it should be as I wished ; that 



Chap. Y. NAVIGATE THE NGOUYAI EIVER. 97 

no harm should come to me from the Aviia people, 
for they were all his friends, several of his sisters 
were married amongst them, &c., &c. 

^th. The canoe given me for the voyage was a 
leaky, rotten affair, and on trial I found that it would 
not contain all our party, with my instruments and 
the provisions for the journey. I was obliged to 
leave three men behind with half the plantains. 
Even then the wretched vessel was only an inch and 
a half above the water. It seemed to me to be 
running too great a risk to trust my chronometers on 
such a journey. If the canoe upset v/e might swim 
or scramble ashore, saving what we could, but the 
loss of the watches would put an end to lunar 
observations, which I felt to be one of the principal 
objects of my expedition. So I determined to confide 
them to Dihaou till my return. The three men we 
left out of the canoe were to go a tedious march by 
land and meet us at the Falls. 

We left the town at a quarter to nine a.m. and 
entered the great Rembo (the river Ngouyai) at ten 
minutes past ten a.m., the distance being about ten 
miles. It was with some pride that I greeted again 
this fine river, which I had the honour of discovering 
on my former journey, at the upper part of its course 
in the Apingi country ;* up to the present time I 
was the only white man who had ever embarked on 
its waters. 

The Ovigui, at its junction with the Ngouyai, is 

* ' Adventures in Equatorial Africa,' p. 438. In the Apingi country 
it is called the Eembo (river) Apingi, under which, name I described it 
loc, cit. 



98 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. Y. 

about tliirty-five yards broad, and is, at this time of 
the year (the rainy season), a deep stream. The 
banks are clothed with uninterrupted forest, leaving 
only little entrances here and there at the ports of 
the villages, which lie backwards from the river. 
Silence and monotony reign over the landscape, un- 
enlivened by the flight and song of birds or the 
movement of animals. 

After a few miles' pull down the Ngouyai, we 
arrived at a village of the Aviia tribe, called Mandji. 
As soon as we stepped ashore, the timid villagers — 
men, women, and children — set off to run for the 
forest, and all the shouting of my Ashira Kamba 
companions was for some time of no avail. We took 
possession of the empty huts, and the people, after the 
assurance that we had not come to do them harm, 
dropped in one by one. Confidence had not quite 
been restored when a gun fired by my man, Rebouka, 
on the beach, again put to flight the timid savages. 
This time one of our Ashiras had to follow them into, 
the thicket and coax them to come back. 

It was the dirtiest village I had yet seen in Africa, 
and the inhabitants appeared to me of a degraded 
class of negroes. The shape and arrangement of the 
village were quite different from anything I had seen 
before. The place was in the form of a quadrangle, 
with an open space in the middle not more than ten 
yards square, and the huts, arranged in a continuous 
row on two sides, were not more than eight feet high 
from the ground to the roof. The doors were only 
four feet high, and of about the same width, with 
sticks placed across on the inside, -one above the other, 



Chap. V. AYIIA VILLAGE OF MANDJI. 99 

to bar the entrance. The place for the fire was in 
the middle of the principal room, on each side of 
which was a little dark chamber, and on the floor was 
an orala^ or stage to smoke meat upon. In the 
middle of the yard was a hole dug in the ground 
for the reception of offal, from which a disgusting 
smell arose, the wretched inhabitants being too lazy 
or obtuse to guard against this by covering it with 
earth. 

The houses were built of a framework of poles, 
covered with the bark of trees, and roofed with 
leaves. In the middle of the village stood the public 
shed, or palaver-house, a kind of town-hall found in 
almost all West African villages. A large fire was 
burning in it, on the ground, and at one end of the 
shed stood a huge wooden idol, painted red and 
white, and rudely fashioned in the shape of a 
woman. The shed was the largest building in the 
village, for it was tei;i feet high, and measured fifteen 
feet by ten. It is the habit of the lazy negroes of 
these interior villages — at least, the men — to spend 
almost the whole day lying down under the palaver- 
shed, feeding their morbid imaginations with tales of 
witchcraft, and smoking their condoquais. 

We stayed in this wretched abode of savages only 
to take our mid-day meal. A little before two p.m. 
we were again en route. The river scenery was most 
beautiful ; glorious vegetation clothed the banks, and 
through breaks in the forest we caught frequent 
glimpses of blue hills beyond. But the number of 
deserted villages we passed imparted a saddening 
effect to the landscape. The country seemed de- 



100 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V, 

populated. ]^o groups of people were seen, happy 
at their work; no songs of boatmen were heard, 
paddling their canoes over the pleasant stream. The 
craven superstitions of these wretched people, and 
the horror of remaining in any place after a death 
has occurred, are the causes which lead to the aban- 
donment of their dwellings. Where the people of 
this neighbourhood had gone to I could not ascer- 
tain. No wonder that these interior tribes make no 
advance in industry, wealth, and culture, whilst such 
customs exist. 

About three miles below the Aviia village, we 
came in sight of the Nkoumou Nabouali peaks, 
which appeared to extend from N.N.W. to S.S.E. 
There were four distinct ranges of hills in view from 
this spot, Nkoumou Nabouali, the highest, being the 
second in point of distance from us. A little after 
three o'clock we began to hear the roar of the Falls, 
and soon after we put ashore at Luba, another village 
of the Aviia tribe, which was the nearest to the 
Falls. 

A little below this village there are two large 
rocks in the middle of the river, or a little nearer to 
the left bank, called Nami Gemha, In the dry sea- 
son these form dangerous rapids ; and the current, 
rushing at headlong speed between the obstructions 
to its course, creates a loud noise which is heard at a 
considerable distance. I made the discovery on my 
present visit to this part that it was these rapids of 
Nami Gemba which my guides represented as the 
Falls of Samba Nagoshi, on my former journey, when 
in search of the Falls from the Apingi country. I 



{ 



Chap. V. VILLAGE OF LUBA. 101 

then arrived within hearing distance, but did not 
actually see them ; indeed, I believe my guides 
themselves did not know where the true Samba 
Nagoshi were situated. 

Apaka, the head man of the village, was taken 
unawares by our arrival, and had not time to run 
away from us like the rest of the people. When I 
approached him, his heart was visibly beating with 
fear under his shining skin. Movema Baka, my 
Ashira Kamba guide, however, soon pacified him. 
The village is called Luba, and was a far cleaner 
place than the one we had visited higher up. The 
houses were hidden in the shade of plantain-trees, 
but the people were short of food, and we not only 
missed our usual introductory presents, but found 
great difficulty in purchasing anything to eat. 

The chief informed me, in the course of my conver- 
sations with him, that the Ishogo tribe did not dwell 
on the banks of the river to the east, but a little 
more than a day's journey in the interior, in a N.E. 
direction, and that another tribe, the Acoa, probably 
a branch of the Shekiani, which I described in 
'Equatorial Africa,' lay between them and the 
river. 

As will be seen in the sequel, I visited the Ishogos 
afterwards in the southern part of their territory. 
If the information given me by Apaka was correct, 
this tribe must occupy a narrow extent of territory 
stretching in a curved form, nearly parallel to the 
bend of the Ngouyai from the north-west to the 
south-east. 

I asked Apaka to show me the village mbuiti, or 



102 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

idol, wliich, it appears, was of the female sex, but he 
told me that she still remained in the place the people 
inhabited before they came to this village. To my 
question why she was not brought with them when 
they removed, he replied that it was a serious matter 
to disturb and carry the mbuiti, for it displeased her, 
and very often those who carried her and the people 
of the village died one after the other. Thus it is 
always with these poor Africans, death is always 
attributed to some supernatural cause or to witch- 
craft. I had often noticed, in passing abandoned 
villages, the mbuiti house standing, apparently kept 
in a good state of preservation, but did not before 
know the reason. When they resolve to remove the 
idol, the people accompany it singing songs, and 
dancing and singing are kept up for days gifterwards. 
Apaka told me that his mbuiti was a very good one ; 
for when she told them it was a good time to go and 
fish or hunt, they were sure to succeed in getting 
plenty of food. 

At the further end of the village I noticed a 
detached and ruinous hut, which appeared, from the 
smoke issuing from the roof, to be inhabited, so I had 
the curiosity to peep in, thinking it was the house 
where they kept some of their idols. A most hideous 
object met my view ; a miserable old woman, a mere 
skeleton, covered with wrinkled skin, lay feebly 
moaning on a mat. She moved a little when I 
looked in, and this showed me she was alive. The 
poor creature, old and therefore useless, had evidently 
been placed here and abandoned. Such was the 
famine that reigned in the village, that it was un- 



Chap. Y. VISIT OF NEIGHBOUKING CHIEFS. 103 

likely any food could be given to lier. It is in sick- 
ness and old age that the life of the savage is most 
hideous to contemplate. No one in the village 
seemed to care for the forlorn creature. 

'^th. The Nkoumou Nabouali mountains lie to the 
westward of this place ; the Ashaukolo range lies 
many miles further, on the S.E. of Lake Jonanga of 
the Ogobai, visited lately by the French exploring 
party under Lieut. Serval. Several chiefs of sur- 
rounding villages came in to-day soliciting presents, 
on account of my having come to see the great 
mbuiri (spirit) of their river, Samba Nagoshi, but I 
stoutly refused to fee any chief but Apaka, who 
would give me a guide to the Falls. Salt from Cape 
Lopez and European cloth have reached this remote 
spot. The women wore heavy brass w^ire round 
their necks, and lighter wire round their ankles. 
The young girls go naked, with the exception of a 
small apron of leaves in front ; most of them were 
better-looking than the Ashira belles. 

At Luba the river is very broad, and the rapid 
takes the name of Nagoshi. Nagoshi is but a rapid. 
There is an island just above, and sometimes the 
natives go there in their canoes to fish. 

10^/z. Started for the Falls. We took, for some 
distance, a path which followed the course of the 
river, and then descended a steep bank to the margin 
of the river itself. Here we beheld the first rapids. 
The bed of the stream was encumbered with boulders 
of rock of various sizes, through which rushed the 
water with great force. We followed the river 
margin for about two hours, scrambling over rocks 



104 YISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

and crossing several streams which here enter the 
Ngouyai, some of them so deep that my companions- 
had to swim across and cut down a tree that I might 
scramble over, for it was very important that the 
instruments I carried with me should not get 
wetted. At last we could get along no further by 
the river margin, and had to ascend the bank into the 
forest, through which we continued our way to the 
Fougamou, or principal Falls. 

We walked through the jungle for about three 
quarters of an hour, with the roar of the cataract 
constantly within hearing, so that I conjectured there 
was more than one fall. At length we emerged on 
the brink of the stream, and saw before us a broad 
seething torrent, madly rushing down between steep 
and rocky banks with deafening roar. It was not a 
cataract, but a torrent of fearful velocity and grand 
proportions, leaping in huge billows, as though 
the whole of the water of the river dropped into 
a chasm and bounded out again, over ridges of 
rock ; the scene was rendered more magnificent 
by the luxuriant tropical foliage of the banks, and 
the steep hills rising on each side, and clothed to 
their summits with glorious forest. The width of the 
stream was not so great as at Luba, and the torrent 
roared along one mass of foam as far as the eye 
could reach. 

My Aviia guide now informed me that he had 
mistaken the path through the forest, and that this 
was not the Fougamou. It was, in fact, the torrent 
below the Falls. We had to retrace our steps, ascend- 
ing the steep declivity, and after, a scramble along the 



Chap. V. DESCEIPTION OF THE FALLS. 105 

rugged hill-side of a mile or so, we came in view of 
the object I had come so far to see. The stream 
here was broader (about 150 yards in width), but 
a rocky island in the middle, covered with trees, 
breaks the fall of water into two unequal parts, only 
one of which could be seen from either side. The 
right-hand Fall was about seventy yards wide, the 
water rushing in immense volume down a steep 
incline. Besides the island several detached islets 
and masses of rock divided this body of water, so that 
the cataract did not present one imposing sheet of 
water, as I had expected, and the total fall was only 
about fifteen feet. The rocks were of red granite, 
both in the middle of the Falls and on the mainland. 
It seemed to me that the greatest body of water 
poured over the right-hand Fall. The left-hand Fall 
was partly concealed from our view by the rocky 
wooded islet, and the water appeared not to rush 
down there with the same force. 

The sight was wild, grand, and beautiful ; but it 
did not quite impress me with the awe that the 
rapids below inspired. We see here the river 
Ngouyai, after flowing through the Apingi valley in 
the interior, and receiving the waters of the Ovigui 
and many other streams, bursting through the barrier 
of the hilly range which separates the interior of 
Africa from the coast-land. The high ridges which 
have been broken through by the river rise on each 
side, covered with varied forest, and the shattered 
fragments encumber the bed of the stream for miles. 
The falls and rapids must vary greatly according to 

the season, and the amount of water in the river. At 
9 



106 YISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. Y. 

the foot of Fougamou my aneroids gave an altitude of 
347 feet above the sea-level. 

We had brought my photographic camera down to 
the foot of the Falls, and I ordered a tree to be felled 
in front in order to get a clear view, finding a large 
snake twisted round one of its branches, as though it 
had come there to listen to the music of the waters. 
The day, however, was cloudy, and after several 
unsuccessful attempts, I was obliged to give up the 
intention of taking views of the scenery. I wanted 
to encamp for the night near the place, and make 
another trial the next day. But at this suggestion 
my Aviia guide took great fright, and intimidated 
my other followers by saying that Fougamou would 
come in the night and roar with such anger into our 
ears that we siiould not survive it ; besides which, no 
one had ever slept there. 

Like all other remarkable natural objects, the Falls 
of the Ngouyai have given rise, in the fertile imagi- 
nations of the negroes, to mythological stories. The 
legend runs that the main Falls are the work of the 
spirit Fougamou, who resides there, and was in old 
times a mighty forger of iron ; but the rapids above 
are presided over by Nagoshi, the wife of Samba, 
who has spoiled this part of the river in order to 
prevent people from ascending and descending. The 
Falls to which the name Samba is given lie a good 
day's journey below the Fougamou, but, from the 
description of the natives, I concluded they were only 
rapids, like l^agoshi above. The Fougamou is the 
only great fall of water. It takes its name from the 
spirit (mbuiri), who is said to have made it, and who 



Chap. V. LEGEND OF FOUGAMOU. 107 

watches it constantly, wandering night and day 
round the Falls. Nagoshi, the rapid above, takes its 
name from a spirit said to be the wife of Samba, as I 
have already stated. 

A legend on this subject was related to us 
with great animation by our Aviia guide, to the 
following effect: In former times people used to 
go to the Falls, deposit iron and charcoal on the river 
side, and say, " Oh ! mighty Fougamou, I want this 
iron to be worked into a knife or hatchet " (or what- 
ever implement it might be), and in the morning 
when they went to the place they found the weapon 
finished. One day, however, a man and his son went 
with their iron and charcoal, and had the impertinent 
curiosity to wait and see how it was done. • They hid 
themselves, the father in the hollow of a tree, and the 
son amongst the boughs of another tree. Fougamou 
came with his son and began to work, when suddenly 
the son said, *' Father, I smell the smell of people ! " 
The father replied, " Of course you smell people ; for 
does not the iron and charcoal come from the hands 
of people ?" So they worked on. But the son again 
interrupted his father, repeating the same words, 
and then Fougamou looked round and saw the 
two men. He roared with rage, and to punish the 
father and his son, he turned the tree in which the 
father was hidden into an ant-hill, and the hiding- 
place of the son into a nest' of black ants. Since 
then, Fougamou has not worked iron for the people 
any more. 

The sky being cloudy all day, I could not take 
observations to fix the latitude of the rapid, Nagoshi, 



108 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

but as I took a series of bearings, and a meridian 
altitude of a star at Mandji, and was careful in 
registering my dead reckoning in the journey from 
the junction of the Ovigui to the Falls, the position 
can be fixed with tolerable accuracy. This will 
enable geographers to clear up much that was doubt- 
ful in the cartography of this part of Africa. 

It was nearly dark when we had packed up the 
camera, and we had a difficult walk to accomplish be- 
fore reaching the place where we intended to pass the 
night, namely, a fishing encampment of Aviia people 
on the banks of the river. We were still struggling 
through the entangled forest when night came on, 
and through breaks in the foliage we could see the 
misty moon peering through the light clouds. The 
loud roar of cataracts and rapids accompanied us 
every step of the way, and the uncertain track 
lay over broken and stony ground near the river. 
Scrambling through thorny bushes, climbing and 
wading, we at length reached the ebando (encamp- 
ment) at half-past eight p.m. On the road Igalo, 
who was just before me, killed a venom-ous snake 
which was lying in the path. It had a hideous 
triangular flat head, and fangs of enormous length. 

To my dismay the ebando was full of people, and 
there was scarcely room to move under its shelter. I 
was quite exhausted with fatigue and hunger ; my 
hands and legs were bloody with the laceration of 
thorns, and my clothes wet through. At length I lay 
down by the side of one of the fires and thus passed 
the night. My Commi men were greatly discontented, 
and Macondai cursed the okendq i nialai (the good-for- 



Chap. V. MOUNT MUECHISON. 109 

nothing journey), wliich did not take us a step nearer 
to London. 

The next morning, the 11th, I succeeded in as- 
cending, in a frail canoe, part of the river which was 
difficult to navigate, being full of rocks and small 
islands. In many places the river seemed broader 
than at Luba. One of the many islands was called 
Olenda. 

Leaving the ebando, I returned to Luba. The 
scarcity of food here had reached starvation point, so 
we lost no time in continuing our journey to the 
Ovigui ; we had just sufficient plantains left to last 
us ; the river was rising fast, and the current was 
very strong. I found the Ngouyai had risen about 
four and a half feet in three days. 

In ascending we kept close to the right bank, in 
order to get a good view of the Nkoumou Nabouali. 
When the highest part of the mountain bore W., 
then the summit, which had appeared only as a 
single peak, showed distinctly two sharp peaks. 
Trees covered the peaks to the summit. I named 
this conspicuous mountain Mount Murchison, after 
my honoured friend Sir Roderick Murchison, the 
illustrious President of the Boyal Geographical 
Society of London. In my former travels I had 
estimated the distance of Nkoumou Nabouali from 
Olenda at sixty miles, being misled by my recollec- 
tions of the appearance of the peak of Fernando Po. 
I now found the distance was only thirty-five miles. 
A few miles below the junction of the Ovigui the 
Ngouyai seems to run parallel to the hilly ridges, 



110 . VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

which are five or six miles distant. At the little 
Aviia village Mandji, where we passed the night, I 
succeeded in taking the meridian altitude of a 
Eridani, the resulting latitude being 1° 16' 26" S. 

12th, In early morning a dense fog enveloped the 
forests and the broad river; we could not see the 
opposite bank. We reached the Ovigui at ten min- 
utes past eight a.m. On its banks we stopped at a 
small village, the chief of which gave us a bunch of 
plantains and a fowl, and the people sold me a 
quantity of smoke-dried fish for my men. How we 
enjoyed the meal after the famine of the previous 
three days ! At half-past two p.m. we arrived at 
Dihaou ; the chief was absent fishing. 

13th. The good old chief Dihaou returned this 
morning, and expressed unaffected delight at seeing 
me. As usual I heard a harrowing tale of witchcraft 
in the course of the day. Few weeks pass away in 
these unhappy villages without something of this 
kind happening. A poor fellow was singing a 
mournfal song, seated on the ground in the village 
street ; and on inquiring the cause of his grief, I was 
told that the chief of a village near his having died, 
and the magic Doctor having declared that ^ve 
persons had bewitched him, the mother, sister and 
brother of the poor mourner had just been ruthlessly 
massacred by the excited people, and his own house 
and plantation burnt and laid waste. 

14th — 16th. Delayed at Dihaou by Arangui's 
trading affairs. Took three observations for latitude, 
which gave the position of the village as 1° 21' 3 '^ S. 



Chap. Y. SUP ON A rOISONOUS SERPENT. Ill 

VI til. It was useless to think of ascending the Ovi- 
gui in a canoe, as the current had become so strong 
with the heavy rains, and the canoe was too small 
to carry all our party ; so we were ferried across to 
the opposite side, where a path commenced leading to 
Olenda. Our march for several miles led through 
forest. About four p.m. a storm burst upon us, and 
we arrived at an old ebando, where we were to pass 
the night, drenched to the skin. 

As we were entering the shed, eager to find a 
shelter from the soaking rain, my men gave a 
sudden shout of alarm, and all started backwards, 
tumbling over a fallen log, and floundering in the 
mire. The cause of their fright was a huge poi- 
sonous snake which lay coiled up on the ground 
within the shelter. The snake was of a species con- 
sidered by the negroes to be the most poisonous oi 
all the kinds known in Western Africa, the Clotho 
nasicornis. In colour it can scarcely be distin- 
guished from the ground and dead leaves on which 
it crawls. It is of great thickness round the middle, 
tapering very suddenly at the tail, and its head is 
very large and hideous, being triangular in shape, 
and having an erect process or horn rising from the 
tip of its nose. 

One of our Ashira men killed it. They were de- 
lighted with their good fortune, for, being large 
and fat, it furnished them, when roasted, with a good 
supper ; some of the meat was . boiled for broth, and 
the rest was carefully packed away for another meal. 
After our arrival at Olenda, I saw the Ashira man 



112 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 

roast and eat tlie head of this poisonous snake : when 
I examined it I did not see the poison fangs, pro- 
bably they had been extracted. 

IStL Travelled all day, reaching the Opangano 
prairie at five p.m. 

19th, On the march again by daylight, through a 
fearful storm with deluges of rain. The rain fell in 
such sheets, that we had difficulty in seeing the path 
before us, and it lasted till eleven o'clock. One or 
two rain-falls of this kind happen every wet season. 
I was afraid my watches would have been spoiled, 
but the leather case proved a good protector. This 
case had been given to me by my good and honoured 
friend. Sir George Back ; and was of the same pat- 
tern as the one used by him in his celebrated Arctic 
voyage. The kind letters I received from him just 
before my departure for the interior were full of 
good and valuable advice, and will always be grate- 
fully remembered by me. We waded for hours 
through water up to the ankles. The rivulets we 
crossed had become too deep to ford, and as I could 
not swim, trees had to be felled, to fall across and 
serve as a bridge. I felt that another night passed in 
the forest would be almost insupportable, besides the 
great risk of fever to which we should be exposed. 
We pushed forward at our best speed, crossed the 
I ■ -V, Ovigui, and at length, at half-past five p.m., arrived 

at Olenda utterly exhausted. 

Quengueza came out to meet me. As soon as I 
reached my hut I had a bath of warm water, took a 
cup of tea and a dose of q^uinine, and went to bed. 



iir 



Chap. Y. ILL EFFECTS OF FOECED MAECHINa. 113 

The forced marches, exposure and privations of this 
arduous journey, laid me up for several days. I 
suffered much from a pain in the left side in the 
neighbourhood of the heart, which was accompanied 
with fever, and distressed me much. I had also 
rheumatic pains in my shoulder. My faithful Ma- 
condai also had a slight attack of fever, which, 
however, gave way to a few doses of quinine. 

I made also another excursion about this time, to 
my friend the chief Adingo^ whose village is situated 
at the foot of the Igoumbi Andele mountains, south 
of Olenda. As a description of this neighbourhood 
is given in ' Equatorial Africa,' it is unnecessary here 
to repeat further details of this excursion. I need 
only say that I have now named the fine wooded 
peaks of Igoumbi Andele after my much respected 
friend Professor Owen, 



CHAPTEE VI. 

ASHIRA-LAND. 

Grand Palaver to discuss tlie route into tlie interior — I am forlDidden to pass 
through, the Apingi country — Messengers sent to the Chief of Otando — 
Changes in Ashira Customs — Decrease of Population— The Potamogdle 
Velox — Its habits — My former description of this Animal — Visit to An- 
gouka — Immense Plantation of Plantain-trees — Quarrel with Mpoto, 
nephew of Olenda — Difficulties and anxieties — First rumours of the 
Small-pox. 

Dec, 23rd, 1864. To day there was an assembly of 
the head-men of Ashira-land, presided over by King 
Olenda, to discuss the important subject of my jour- 
ney towards the east. My intention was to have 
followed the same route from Olenda as I took on 
my former expedition, namely, through the Apingi 
country. But obstacles to this arrangement were 
raised by Olenda and the Ashira people, who argued 
that my best course would be to proceed to the 
Otando country, lying a little to the south of Apingi. 
I learnt, in the course of the palaver, the cause of 
Olenda's opposition. It appeared that after I had 
left the Apingi, the people could not comprehend 
what had become of me, and Remandji their chief had 
much trouble with them. They declared he had hid 
me in the forest, with the intention of keeping me 
for himself. So they .came in a body to ask him 
what had become of me. They "also demanded that 



Chap.VI. PALAYER to DISCUSS THE ROUTE. 115 

he should give them some of the presents I had given 
him. A few days afterwards Remandji died, and 
his son shortly followed him. The cry of witchcraft 
of course was raised, one party saying that some of 
the neighbouring people had killed their chief, 
through envy of his possession of . the ntangani, 
whilst others (and these prevailed) said that I had 
killed him, wishing, on account of the friendship I 
had for him, to carry him with me to my own country. 
The present chief, I afterwards learnt, had secretly 
sent messengers to Olenda to warn him against for- 
warding me through his country. He said that he 
did not want to follow the " spirit," as Eemandji and 
his son had done, but would prefer to stop at home 
and eat plantains. The present world was good 
enough for him. 

Such is a fair sample of the wild fancies and whim- 
sical superstitions of these strange people, which 
interpose the most irritating obstacles to the pro- 
gress of the African traveller. It was clear I must 
renounce my project of travelling through Apingi- 
land, wi1:h such a charge hanging over my head. 

After a long discussion and many irrelevant 
speeches, it was decided that I should go through the 
Otando country, and that Olenda should send forth- 
with a messenger to the chief, apprising him of the 
intended visit, and requesting him to send a party of 
men to help in carrying my baggage. This is the 
best, and, indeed, the only plan of getting from place 
to place in this part of Africa. 

I now anticipated but a short delay in Olenda, as 
on the arrival of men from Otando I should pack 



116 ASHIKA-LAND. Chap. VL 

Tip and be off at once. Meantime I occupied myself 
in practising in photography, taking astronomical 
observations, and adding greatly to my collections in 
Natural History. By a numerous series of observa- 
tions which I took here, the latitude of Olenda has 
been found to be 1° W 22" S., the longitude 
10° 30' 34", and the altitude above the sea-level 
526 feet. 

A few rambles about the Ashira prairie showed 
me that the population had much diminished, since 
my visit six years previously. Many of the villages 
which then studded its grassy slopes and hollows had 
disappeared. It is true that some of the head men had 
removed their people to new villages in the woods, 
which surround the prairie ; nevertheless, I believe 
the total number of the people had been much 
reduced. The tribe was once superior to all their 
neighbours in industry and cleanliness, and in the 
quality of their clothing and ornaments. A deteri- 
oration was now plainly visible. The well- woven 
dengui which the people used to wear had almost 
disappeared, and in its stead I saw only garments of 
thin, dirty, cotton cloth. A few of the older women 
alone were decorated with copper rings round the 
neck. The young people had also abandoned the 
practice of filing their front teeth, and I noticed a 
total change of fashion in the dressing of their hair, 
increasing commerce with the Rembo having had the 
result of their adopting Oommi fashions. The tribe 
have now constant intercourse with the Commi, and 
of late years the warlike Bakalai have married many 
of their women and of course taken them awav. 



Chap. VI. THE POTAMOaALE VELOX. 117 

The 28tli of December was a happy day to me ; 
for I sncceeded in what I had been long wishing for, 
the acquisition of specimens of the curious otter-like 
animal Potamogale velox. It was one of my most 
interesting discoveries on my former journey, and I 
had given a description of it which was published in 
the ' Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 
History for I860' (vol. vii. p. 353). I had been 
unable to bring home more than a skin of this animal ; 
and when it was made the subject of one of the un- 
generous attacks made at that time upon me, I was 
unable to produce evidence, in a skeleton or speci- 
men of the perfect animal, of the truth of the account 
I had given of it. I had examined the living animal, 
and had described it from remembrance as allied to 
the otters. But my critic, from an examination of 
the skin, only ridiculed my statement, and declared 
that it did not even belong to the order imder which 
otters are classed, but was a rodent animal. He pro- 
posed even to do away with the name I had given it, 
and to call it Mythomys, in commemoration of my 
supposed fabulous statement. It may be imagined, 
then, how glad I felt in obtaining two specimens of 
the Potamogale. I preserved the skeletons as well 
as the skins of both, and wished that I could at once 
have sent them to London to vindicate my statements.* 
Some weeks afterwards, when at Mayolo, I obtained 
four more specimens. 

* Independently of my specimens, an example of the Potamogale velox 
came into the hands of Professor Allman, of Edinburgh, who was the first 
to announce that I had accurately described and classified the animal. See 
Professor Allman's Memoir in the * Transactions of the Zoological Society,' 
vol vi., pt. I., p. 1. 



118 ASHIRA-LAND. Chap, VI. 

The Potamogale lives in many of the shady and 
rocky streams near Olenda, ghding under water 
with great velocity after its prey. On opening the 
stomachs of all my specimens, I found only fresh- 
water crabs in those I found at Olenda. At this 
season of the year, the waters are all turbid with 
the floods, and I imagine that the Potamogale, unable 
to find fish, which are his ordinary food, has to 
content himself with Crustacea, which he finds about 
their holes, under the rocks and stones on the banks 
of the rivulets. Three of those found at Mayolo had 
fish in their ston^ach, and one had Crustacea. The 
animal is not found in the Ngouyai or other large 
rivers of the country, but is confined to the smaller 
streams. In the dry season it is seldom to be found 
anywhere. 

One of my excursions in the neighbourhood of 
Olenda was to the village of my former friend the 
chief Angouka, situated ten miles N.W. of the 
capital. I may here say that, although I speak of 
Olenda as the capital of Ashira-land, it was by no 
means the largest village in the country. It is a 
peculiarity of this part of Africa, that the residence 
of the head chief, or king of a tribe, is often a smaller 
place than the villages of the subordinate chiefs. 
The size of a royal village depends on various cir- 
cumstances, chiefly on the personal character of the 
king. If he is of a conciliatory and unsuspicious, 
and, at the same time, of an energetic disposition, 
he may attract a large number of people around 
him ; but if he is quarrelsome, or more than usually 



Chap. VL VISIT TO CHIEF ANGOUKA. 119 

suspicious of witchery, &c., the minor chiefs and the. 
people will keep out of his way. It will be seen 
hereafter that the slave- village of King Olenda, in 
the neighbouring woods, was a much larger and 
better-ordered settlement than his own town. 

Angouka, like many other chiefs, had moved his 
village since I last visited the country. We passed 
through the remnants of it on our way. Strange to 
say, these people seem to leave their villages just as 
the fruit-trees, which they have planted with con- 
siderable labour, have begun to bear. My faithful 
friend Quengueza accompanied me, and Angouka 
gave us a hearty welcome. In remembrance of his 
former kindness to me, I presented the chief with a 
big coat, a white shirt, a piece of fine cloth, and a 
necklace of large beads. We feasted heartily on 
an antelope which had been killed just before our 
arrival. V/ 

The most remarkable feature about Angouka's 
place was the great extent of his plantain-groves. 
It was the largest plantation of this tree I had ever 
seen in Africa ; there being, according to my cal- 
culation, about 30,000 trees, most of them planted 
about five feet apart. Each tree would bear, on an 
average, half a dozen shoots, which would in time 
grow to trees, but the natives generally cut all these 
away except two or three. The bunches of plantain 
produced by each tree weighed from 20 to 40 lbs., 
but I found many weighed as much as from 80 to 
120 lbs. No cereal could give in the same space of 
ground so large a supply of food. There were many 
varieties ; some bear about six months after the 



>i 



120 ASHIRA-LAND. Chap. YL 

sprouts are planted, others eight or ten months, and 
others again not before eighteen months ; these last 
generally bear the largest-sized bunches. The sight 
of this great plantation, with the magnificent foliage 
covering the gentle hollows and slopes, was most 
pleasing; nothing had so much delighted me for 
many months. It was within the borders of the 
forest which skirts the prairie, the trees of which 
had not been all felled, but killed by barking their 
trunks, and making fires at their bases. In early 
morning a light mist hung over the landscape, and 
veiled with thin clouds the forest slopes of the neigh- 
bouring hills. 

The first days of the New Year were spent by me 
in much anxiety of mind. There were, in the first 
place, many unpleasant disputes with the Ashira 
people, on account of the intrigues of my Commi 
men with the native women, and these led to a 
quarrel between me and Mpoto, Olenda's nephew, 
who was very violent. Mpoto was a hot-headed 
negro, never well-disposed towards strangers. He 
came, with the intention of making a disturbance, 
one morning from his village, which was within a 
short distance from Olenda, and singling out my 
head man, Igala, pointed a loaded gun at his head. 
I was obliged to interfere, otherwise blood would 
have been shed, and only prevented him from firing 
by levelling a revolver at him. All my men had 
seized their arms, and a general melee was imminent. 
Igala behaved like a brave fellow as he was, facing 
the enraged Mpoto when the muzzle of the gun was 



Chap VI. DIFFICULTIES AND ANXIETIES. 121 

within a few feet of Ms head, and you could not see 
a muscle move in his fearless countenance. Olenda 
interposed afterwards as peace-maker, and Mpoto 
was so terrified at the old man's threatening to curse 
him, that he bent down, and, taking hold of the 
patriarch's feet, implored his forgiveness. I threat- 
ened and chastised my men, but all my endeavours 
to put a lasting end to the evil were fruitless. 

There was next the long delay in the arrival of the 
porters expected from Otando, and I was afraid some 
hitch had occurred. At last a party of men arrived 
from the chief of Otando, bringing an invitation for 
me, accompanied by the present of a goat ; but, whilst 
we were engaged in collecting a sufficient number of 
Ashira porters to aid in transporting my baggage, a 
third and most serious cause of anxiety arose, which 
ultimately had well nigh put an end to my expedi- 
tion. 

Elanga, one of Olenda's nephews, was taken ill with 
a disease which the natives had never before seen. 
It was described to me, and I thought I recognised 
in the description the symptoms of small-pox. The 
next day the news came from a neighbouring village 
that Elanga had died. There was a great deal of 
mourning and wailing among the people ; and all the 
inhabitants of Olenda, with the exception of the old 
king, went to join in the wild manifestations of grief. 
Now, Elanga was one of the Ashira men who had 
been to Obindji to fetch my baggage, and a suspicion 
of foul play or witchcraft, as usual, arose in the 
minds of the Ashira people, which, in addition to 
10 



122 ASHIKA-LAND. Chap. VI. 

the other causes of unfriendliness, threatened to em- 
barrass my movements. After the lapse of a few 
days, two other cases of the disease occurred, also in 
men who had carried my goods from the Bakalai 
country. I began to be alarmed, for I knew what 
havoc such a pestilence would cause amongst these 
people if it gained head. But I had no fear for 
myself, for I had been, fortunately, re-vaccinated in 
London a fortnight before I left England, little think- 
ing what I should have afterwards to pass through. 

The first step I took was to keep my Commi men 
away from the places where the disease had shown 
itself. This was remarked by the people, and their 
suspicions were strengthened. They began boldly 
to accuse me of having introduced the eviva (thing 
that spreads, i. e.^ the plague), or, as they sometimes 
called it, the opunga (a bad wind), amongst them ; they 
declared that I had brought death with me instead of 
bringing good to the people ; that I was an evil spirit ; 
that I had killed Remandji, king of the Apingi, and 
so forth. Hence arose angry disputes. Quengueza, 
never a very good-tempered man, grew furious. He 
asked them whether they thought that he, the king 
who held the passage of the Rembo, had come with 
his white man into the bush amongst these pigs of 
Ashira to be cursed? Old Olenda held Quengueza 
in great respect, and invariably sided with him in 
our troublesome disputes with the Ashira people. 
Some days passed in this way. I strove my utmost 
to get away from the place before the disease had 
made further progress. Olenda had sent orders 



Chap. YI. EEVIVINQ HOPES. 123 

round to tlie neiglibouring villages for porters to 
assemble in the village ; and tlius in a few days I 
hoped to be on the march, and to find health and 
pleasure in the hilly and wooded country, which 
intervenes between Ashira and Otando. 



CHAPTEE VIL 

THE PLAGUE IN ASHIRA-LAND. 

Breaking out of the Small-pox Epidemic — NoHe Conduct of Quengueza — 
Departure of Quengueza's People — Illness of the Porters — ^My Commi 
Body-guard refuse to leave me — Departure of part of the "baggage to 
Otando-land — Quengueza returns to Groumhi — Letters from Europe — 
Death of Mpoto — Death of King Olenda — His burial — Cemetery of the 
Ademha Chiefs — Wailing for the dead — Death of Eetonda — Arrival 
of Messengers from Mayolo — Distrust of the Natives — Trickery of 
Arangui — I am robbed by the Ashira People — ^Diminution of the 
Pestilence — Quengueza's message to the people of Olenda. 

At length the calamity which I had so much dreaded 
came upon us ; the plague broke out with great 
violence in Olenda village, causing obstacles to the 
progress of my expedition which had well nigh 
proved fatal to it. The first victim was the head 
wife of Olenda himself. The awful scourge spread 
with a rapidity that frightened me. Several of the 
mourners who had been to Elanga's funeral had 
fallen ill of the disease. This was not to be won- 
dered at, considering their style of mourning, the 
relatives and neighbours all surrounding the corpse, 
touching and even embracing it, whilst crying out, 
"Do speak to us — do not leave us! Oh, why do 
you die?" I had urged Olenda not to allow these 
mourning ceremonies to take place, telling him of the 
results that would follow. None of the people of the 
surrounding villages would come near us. In a few 



I 



Chap. VII. BEEAKING OUT OF THE PLAGUE. 125 

days more than half the people of Olenda caught the 
infection. I became alarmed for the safety of the 
noble old Quengueza and his men ; and my first 
desire was to see him free from the danger, and re- 
turning to his own country. But he refused to leave 
me. "Chaillie," said he, " I cannot go back. I came 
here to see you through this country, and I should 
feel shame to leave you in your troubles. What 
would the Commi people say? They would laugh 
at me, and say, ' Quengueza had no . power to help 
Chaillie on his way.' I^o, I shall not leave you ! " 

A favourite little slave of Quengueza' s, named 
Rigoli, soon after this was attacked by the disease. 
It was now in our csunip, and there was great danger 
of my own men falling ill. I was obliged to make 
the most stringent regulations, forbidding them to 
hold intercourse with the natives, to use any of their 
utensils, or to smoke their condoquais. It was in 
vain, however, that I tried to get Quengueza to send 
away his little boy. When I went to see him, I 
found, to my horror, that he had got the boy in his 
hut, laid on a mat near his own, and was nursing 
him with the tenderest care. If the noble old fellow 
had caught the disease himself, it would have com- 
pletely put an end to my expedition ; besides, many 
of his own people were going in and out of the hut, 
and all my quarantine regulations were totally upset. 
To my expostulations the old man only replied, " If I 
get the plague, it will be God's (Aniembie's) palaver, 
but I can better take care of Rigoli here." Notwith- 
standing my annoyance, the scene raised Quengueza 
more than ever in my estimation, and showed me, 



126 THE PLAGUE IN ASHIEA-LAND. Chap. YH. 

under the coarse skin of tlie savage, the noble heart 
of a man who had but the promptings of generous 
instinct to guide him. 

A few days afterwards Quengueza, at my earnest 
persuasion, sent away all his people, and used his 
influence with Olenda to get me again a number 
of porters to continue my journey. The Ashira 
tried to persuade Quengueza to leave me, promising 
him they would take care of me. The old chief had 
a very stormy palaver with Olenda, and taunted him 
with his inability to send me forward on my journey. 
He threatened to return to Goumbi and tell the 
people how powerless Olenda was, or else to take 
me to the Bakalai, who would do better than the 
Ashira had done. Olenda was stung by these re- 
proaches, and undertook at once to send for his 
nephew, Arangui (the same who had taken me to 
the Samba Nagoshi Falls), to guide me to the Otando 
country. 

Three times I had mustered porters for my on- 
ward journey, and had each time been disappointed 
through the poor fellows falling ill of the epidemic 
before even the packing of the loads was completed. 
I had now given away a large quantity of my goods, 
and had much reduced my baggage ; but still it 
would require more men to carry it than were now 
in a condition to work in Olenda's village. Thirty 
men were all that could be mustered at the command 
of Olenda, and they are so proud that they would 
not go to another clan to get porters from among 
their friends. The bargaining for pay was the most 
difficult I had ever experienced. The rascals knew 



Chap. Yll. FIDELITY OF MY COMMI MEN. 127 

the difficulty I was in, and increased their demands 
accordingly. The cunning of these people is not to 
be matched by that of the wiliest diplomatist of our 
race. When settling the price of their services, all 
the older men took my part in the haggling match, 
beating down the demands of the younger ones ; of 
course, looking forward to the natural reward of 
their partizanship in higher pay for themselves. 
This was a deep-laid manoeuvre to get higher wages 
for the whole, and was planned secretly by the 
entire party beforehand; for, when all were paid, 
the young men returned and refused point blank to 
go with me unless I paid them at the same rate as the 
older ones, who, said they, have no loads to carry. 

My plan now was to get all my own men away 
from the small-pox by sending them on first with 
part of the goods to the Otando country, under the 
guidance of Arangui, myself intending to follow 
with the rest of the baggage on Arangui's return. 
To this arrangement my faithful lads would not 
agree at all. They conferred together, and then told 
me they would not leave me here alone. " Who," 
said they, " in the midst of this fearful sickness, is to 
cook for you, and wash your clothes ? These Ashira 
may poison you, by putting the gall of a leopard into 
your food. Some of us must remain with you, come 
what may ! " I was obliged to accede to their wishes, 
and chose five of them to remain with me, Macondai, 
Ngoma, Igala (Quengueza's slave), Igalo, and Ee- 
tonda. The rest, Igala, Eebouka, Mouitchi, Eape- 
lina, Eogueri, together with the porters, who com- 
prised all the disposable men of Olenda's clan, 



128 THE PLAGUE IN ASHIRA-LAND. Chap. VII. 

departed on the following morning. This division 
of my party was a great mistake on my part; it 
tempted the Ashira people to form a plot to plunder 
me, as will presently be related. 

Quengueza now left me to return to Groumbi. Be- 
fore his departure I took a photographic likeness of 
him, and was glad to have this memento of so excel- 
lent a fellow. He believed I was now well on my 
way to the white man's country, and told me not to 
forget to bring him back a big bell a silver sword, 
a brass chest, and plenty of fine things. On parting 
he took my two hands in his own, blew on them, 
and invoked the Spirits of his ancestors to take care 
of me. I looked after him as he disappeared in the 
tall grass of the prairie, and returned sorrowful to 
my hut, for I felt that I had parted from the best 
friend I had in Africa. 

The men from Goumbi, who came to accompany 
Quengueza back to his home, brought me a large 
parcel of letters and newspapers from my friends in 
England, France, and the United States. They had 
come by the mail-steamer to Fernando Po ; had been 
transmitted thence in a sailing vessel to the Gaboon, 
and forwarded to the Fernand Yaz in a native canoe. 
From my village they had been sent up to Goumbi 
by a negro messenger. ^N'otwithstanding the many 
changes of conveyance, no injury was sustained, and, 
as far as I could learn, nothing was missing. 

How I revelled in the kind letters of my many 
friends, so full of encouragement and good wishes ! 
They were as manna in the wilderness to me, and 
gave me new strength of resolution to carry out my 



Chap. VII. LETTEKS FROM EUEOPE. 129 

undertaking at a time when I was thoroughly dis- 
heartened. The letters of Sir Eoderick Murchison 
and Professor Owen, especially, gave me new life. 
Amongst the papers which I received, there was a 
copy of ' The Times' containing an article on the 
death of Captain Speke. It was the only sorrowful 
news that came, and I felt sad in reflecting how 
precarious and uncertain was life. A brave and 
strong man, who had gone through all the dangers 
of a march through the interior of Africa, had thus 
fallen by accident, after his safe return to his home 
and his family ! 

The parcel contained, besides other papers, numbers 
of the ^Illustrated London ISTews' and 'Punch.' These 
were, afterwards, extremely useful to me, as they 
never failed to give amusement to the negroes of the 
villages I stayed at, and they were always thought 
much of by the head men as presents. The un- 
sophisticated African has a great liking for printed 
paper and books, especially when they have plenty 
of engravings. 

After Quengueza's departure the small- pox in- 
creased its ravages. Not a day passed without its 
victims, each fresh death being announced by the 
firing of guns, a sound which each time pierced 
through me with a pang of sorrow. From morning 
to night, in my solitude, I could hear the cries of 
wailing, and the mournful songs which were raised 
by the relatives round the corpses of the dead. The 
curses of the natives fell thick on me as the author 
of their misfortunes. To these miseries another one 
was soon added in the shape of famine. There was 



130 THE PLAGUE IN ASHIEA-LAND. Chap. VII. 

no one left to gather food ; and my men in searching 
for it in the neighbouring villages were driven back 
and threatened with death by the terror-stricken in- 
habitants, who believed that we were the carriers of 
the plague and of the famine. 

All Olenda's wives were down with the disease; 
but, happily, the king himself remained my friend, 
and as long as he had food he shared it with us. But 
sorer trials than famine were in store for us. One 
wretched night a sudden wailing burst forth, and soon 
became general throughout the village. It was the 
announcement of the death of Mpoto, the favourite 
nephew and heir-apparent of Olenda. The tremulous 
and feeble voice of poor old Olenda was heard in the 
early morning singing the plaintive songs of grief. 
The death of Mpoto was imputed by the people to 
me, on account of the quarrel I had had with him ; 
and a general complaint was made that, whilst all 
the Ashira were falling ill, the white man's people 
were untouched. We were in great danger of being 
attacked by the enraged people of Mpoto, and had to 
keep watch for some time with loaded revolvers ready 
at hand. Soon after this came the final blow — Olenda 
himself sickened and died ! He was the last of his 
clan to be struck down with the disease, if, indeed, 
it was the small-pox of which he died. In fact, he, 
Macondai, and I, were the only people remaining 
well at that time, for my three other faithful lads had, 
to my infinite grief, fallen ill with the worst type 
of the infection ; Ngoma, especially, was a great 
sufferer, for the skin sloughed off his body in large 
patches ; his face was swollen up, and the putrid 



Chap. VII. DEATH OF KING OLENDA. 131 

smell tliat came from his body was dreadful. He lay 
beside my bed ; for there was no hut but my own in 
which I could put him. Igala, Quengueza's slave, 
was in almost as bad a state. 

No one can imagine the anxiety I felt when, one 
morning, Olenda complained to me of burning heat 
and thirst. The fever increased in the course of the 
next two days, and with it weakness and drowsiness, 
but without any external appearance of small-pox. 
When I sat by his bedside, the old man, seeing my 
sorrowful countenance, would say, " Do not grieve, 
Chaillie ; it is not your fault ; you have not caused 
my illness, I know it." On the third night a sudden 
cry of anguish from house to house in the village, 
the meaning of which I knew too well, told me that 
my only remaining friend was no more. He died, I 
was told, without suffering ; going off, as it seemed, 
in a quiet sleep. Shortly before his death he had 
enjoined upon his people that they should take care 
that no harm came to me. 

I was afraid that Olenda's subjects would not be so 
tolerant as he himself was, and would accuse me of 
having caused his death. I had taken a photo- 
graphic likeness of him a few days before his ill- 
ness, to the great wonderment and fear of the few 
people who were well enough to watch the process 
I wished now that I had not done it, for I thought 
it would be sure to create suspicions of my having 
practised magical arts to cause his death. Happily, 
matters took another turn. His relatives had been 
so touched by my evident sorrow at the old man's 
illness and death that they came to me afterwards, 



132 THE PLAGUE IN ASHIEA-LAND. Chap. VII. 

and, instead of accnsing me of causing his death, 
consoled me, saying that although Olenda was dead, 
his clan had not died with him ; he had left people 
behind him, and they would carry out his wishes, 
and see that I had porters to take my baggage to 
Otando. This day Macondai fell ill. A high fever, 
the precursor of the small-pox, seized him, and for a 
week I knew not whether I should lose my beloved 
boy, as the eruption did not come out. And now 
I was indeed alone, with no one to help me. I 
had to fetch water, to search for firewood," and to 
cook for myself, as well as for all my poor stricken 
followers. 

The villagers exerted themselves to procure food 
for me. Those who were now well enough crept 
towards the plantation to get plantains for me ; and 
even the invalids, men and women, sent me offerings 
of food, saying, " We do not want our stranger to be 
hungry." 

Poor Olenda was buried in the cemetery of the 
chiefs of the Ademba clan, the clan of Ashira over 
which he had been the head. I say buried, although 
this term hardly applies to the custom followed by 
these people of exposing the corpse above-ground. 
The cemetery was in a little grove of trees just out- 
side the village. I gave the people powder to fire 
a salute at the funeral, and they came and begged 
from me an umbrella to bury with him, this being 
an article which it was thought very necessary and 
desirable to bury with their chief. There was great 
grief on the burial-day ; the women shaved their 
heads, dressed themselves in rags, and besmeared 



Chap. VII. BUEIAL OF KING OLENDA. 133 

their bodies witli ashes ; and as the body was carried 
out of the village, cries of anguish and lamentation 
were heard; all the people shouting out, "He will 
not take care of us any more — he will not speak to 
us any more. Oh, Olenda, why have you left us ! 
Oh, Olenda, why have you left us ! " Two days 
afterwards I went myself to the cemetery. The 
corpse of the old chief was placed on the ground, in 
a sitting posture, enveloped in a large European coat 
which I had given him_, and by his side was the 
umbrella ; the head looked already like a skull, co- 
vered with dry, wrinkled, parchment-like skin. By 
his side lay a chest containing the various presents I 
had given him, and also plates, jugs, cooking utensils, 
his favourite pipe, and some tobacco, and a fire was 
burning, which the people keep alight day and night 
by the corpse of a chief, sometimes for many weeks. 
There was also a plate of victuals, brought, according 
to the custom of these people, for the corpse to eat, 
and renewed daily for some time. The aspect of the 
place was not cheering, as may well be imagined ; 
all around lay the bones of the ancestors of the 
Ademba chief, in various stages of decay. For several 
mornings after his burial, the people came to me and 
declared that they had seen Olenda the previous 
evening, walking in the village, and that he had 
told them that he had not left them entirely, but 
would come from time to time to see how they were 
going on. I have no doubt they believed what they 
said, as their imaginations were greatly excited during 
this dreadful period. 

The once cheerful prairie of Ashira had now 



134 THE PLAaUE IN ASHIKA-LAND. Chap. VII. 

become a gloomy valley of the dead ; each village was 
a charnel-house. "Wherever I walked, the most heart- 
rending sights met my view. The poor victims of 
the loathsome disease in all its worst stages lay about 
in sheds and huts ; there were hideous sores filled 
with maggots, and swarms of carrion flies buzzed 
about the living but putrid carcases. The stench in 
the neighbourhood of the huts was insupportable. 
Some of the sick were raving, and others emaciated, 
with sunken eyes, victims of hunger as well as of 
disease. Many wretched creatures from other vil- 
lages were abandoned to die in the bush. How I 
bewailed my hard fate, and wished myself back amid 
the health and comforts of Europe, even though it 
were only as a street-sweeper in one of its cities ! 

To add to my sorrows and losses in this unhappy 
time, one of my Commi boys, Retonda, sickened and 
died. His disease was not, however, the prevailing 
epidemic, but a kind of cholic attended with violent 
vomiting. He was the only one of my Commi body- 
guard that I lost on the journey; he was a plucky 
fellow, and I felt much his loss. We buried him, 
wrapped up in a mat, with the usual honours, firing 
a salute over his grave. 

A few days before the death of Olenda, a number 
of men, sent by the king, arrived from Mayolo's 
town in Otando. The news they brought was not 
very favourable to the prospect of my onward march. 
There had been a meeting of the head men to consider 
the matter of my visit ; and the conclusion arrived at 
was that I ought not to be allowed to come, seeing 



Chap. VII. DISTRUST OF THE NATIVES. 135 

ttat I carried tlie eviva, or plague, wherever I went. 
Mayolo himself, however, was favourable, and took 
upon himself the responsibility of inviting me to his 
village ; but I was not to be allowed to visit the 
other chiefs. The Apono people, beyond the Otando 
country, had also sent word that they should oppose 
my progress. 

The Otando messengers had some visits to make 
in the neighbourhood, and left me with the promise 
that they would return in two days ; in the mean- 
time I and my men were busily employed packing 
up, with the hope of soon being on the march. Three 
days elapsed, and then, to my great vexation, 1 heard 
that the Otandos had hastened back in fright to 
Mayolo. This was most unfortunate. They had seen 
the sickness and desolation of the Ashira villages, 
and were now returning in their fright to spread the 
horrid news throughout Otando-land, and to confirm 
the impression that I was the cause of it all. 

Several weeks passed away in solitude, anxiety, 
and suspense. I waited day after day in expectation 
of seeing Arangui return from Mayolo, that I might 
proceed with the rest of the goods. The small-pox 
was gradually diminishing, from sheer lack of victims 
for further ravages ; but the Ashira people had grown 
more distrustful, and something was evidently going 
wrong. At length three of my men suddenly made 
their appearance from Mdyolo. They had left all 
well, but, to my surprise, told me that Arangui had 
left two days after their arrival in Mdyolo, and must 
therefore have long ago arrived in Ashira. Some 
underhand movement was evidently going on, pro- 



136 THE PLAGUE IN ASHIRA-LAND. Csap. YH. 

bably with a view to plunder me, and I suspected 
Ondonga to be at the bottom of it, as it was be wbo 
bad repeatedly told me that Arangui still remained 
in Otando. I soon learnt, on furtber inquiry, tbat 
several of tbe loads bad never reacbed Mdyolo at all, 
tbat tbe porters bad gone back to tbeir plantations 
witb tbem, no doubt by orders of Arangui, wbo 
would bave a large sbare of tbe spoil afterwards ; 
tbe porters bad scattered tbemselves along tbe forest 
road, some sleeping in one place and some in anotber, 
and almost every load bad been rifled of part of its 
contents. My men bad been tired of waiting for me, 
and tbey told me tbat tbe Otando messengers, wbo bad 
returned in sucb bot baste, were driven from Asbira- 
land by tbe tbreats of Arangui, wbo bad seized one 
of tbem, and made bim prisoner. Tbinking tbat 
sometbing was wrong, my men bad resolved to 
despatch tbree of tbeir number, well armed, to know 
tbe cause of my detention. 

I was now in a very unpleasant position. It was 
no satisfaction to bear tbat Arangui bad sbown 
violent anger on tbe discovery of tbe robbery, for I 
well knew tbe hypocrisy of tbe African character. 
I bad been shamefully robbed, with tbe connivance 
of tbe head men of Olenda, and in addition one of 
Mayolo's messengers was detained a prisoner,- with- 
out whose release I should never be allowed to enter 
tbe Otando territory. I told my men to say nothing 
about the robbery, my object being not to excite 
any fears of punishment until I had obtained porters 
to enable me to get away from the place. 

It was a difficult matter to conceal my indignation, 



i 



.^.S^^rf:^^. fit 




PRISONER IN NOHOGO. 



Chap. VIL EOBBED BY THE ASHIRA PEOPLE. 137 

especially wlien I saw that all the people of the 

village knew how I had been plundered. I detected 

them often whispering secretly and casting furtive 

glances towards my hut ; but orders had been given 

to every Ashira man, woman, and child to keep 

the matter secret from me, and not a single one 

betrayed it. It is wonderful how even the young 

children here are taught to be "discreet." I was 

obliged to act the hypocrite and pretend that I 

believed Ondonga was ignorant of the arrival of 

Arangui. The day following the arrival of my men, 

Ondonga, Mintcho, and several others came to me and 

told me they would endeavour to persuade Arangui 

to give up the man. Arangui was obstinate, and 

neither the arguments of his friends nor my threats 

could prevail upon him. It appeared that two years 

previously the Otandos had seized a rejative of his, 

and still kept him in nchogo (the native stocks). 

Here was a sample of the complicated difficulties 

a poor African traveller has to contend with. At 

length Arangui fell ill ; and, in his superstitious 

fears that I had caused his illness, he released the 

man, but with limbs so cruelly lacerated by the 

wooden blocks in which he had been confined, that 

he was unable to move for several days afterwards. 

Meantime the news of Olenda's death and my 

detention had reached Goumbi, and Quengueza had 

sent word that he must come and fetch me back, that 

Olenda had left no people to carry the white man's 

goods to the next country, and so forth. The men 

who brought the message told us (what I afterwards 

learnt to be true) that all the negroes who had ac- 
11 



138 THE PLAGUE IN ASHIKA-LAKD. Chap. VH. 

companied Quengueza from Olenda had died, either 
on the way or after their arrival at Groumbi. The 
reproach of Quengueza stung the Ashira people to 
the quick, and they now bestirred themselves in 
reality. It was, however, very difficult to get porters 
together, although Ondonga aided me with *all sin- 
cerity, for they did not want to have to go to another 
clan for people. I was obliged at last to grant them 
all they wanted, which was to abandon to them all 
the apparatus and goods which I could not carry 
any further into the interior, for want of porters. 

I finally succeeded in obtaining about twenty men, 
including five Apingi belonging to Mintcho, whom I 
was obliged to propitiate with the present of a gun, 
to induce him to join us with this strong reinforce- 
ment. I had to give up besides to the porters the 
greater part, of my ammunition, all my sugar, tea, 
and every spare article of clothing. One of the 
principal men, Ayagui, son of Olenda, who accom- 
panied me on my former journey, when he had 
received the whole of his pay, said in the coolest 
manner that he should keep that as recompense for 
having taken care of two of my men, and that neither 
he nor his slaves would go with me without further 
wages. Although boiling with indignation at this 
act of rascality, I was obliged to yield. I was entirely 
in the power of these rapacious scoundrels. With 
these tribes it is not only that they are seeking to 
gratify their own cupidity in thus fleecing a traveller, 
but mingled with it is a jealousy of the next tribe's 
having a chance in their turn of participating in the 
plunder of the white man. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FEOM OLENDA TO mAyOLO. 

Departure from Ashira-land — Passage of the Ovigui — Slave Village of 
King Olenda — A Slave Chief — Difficulties with the Porters — More 
Eohheries — Illness of Macondai — Leave him behind — The Otando Eange 
of Hills — Picturesque Cascade in the Forest — Cross the Louvendji — 
More difficulties with the Porters — Hunger in the Forest — Men sent to 
Mayolo for Eelief — A Night in the Forest — Myth of Atungulu Shimba 
— Koola Nut-trees — Search for Food — Meet with a Gorilla — A Hungry 
Night — Unselfish act of the Ashira — ^Help arrives from Mayolo — Mpegui 
Nuts — Arrival in Otando-land. 

March 16^/i. At length, after many montlis of weary- 
delay, the hour arrived for our departure from the 
Ashira settlement. I had suffered in this unfortunate 
place more than words can describe ; racked with 
anxiety on account of the fearful epidemic which had 
dogged my footsteps, and which the credulous natives 
accused me of introducing amongst them, tortured 
with the threatened failure of all my schemes, robbed 
and cheated by the head men and their subjects. 
My party of ten men had become reduced to seven. 
Eetonda was dead; Igala (Quengueza's slave) was 
left behind, although much better ; and Eogueri, the 
slave given to me by Makaga Nchango, had run 
away. But as he was an inveterate thief, I did not 
regret his loss. Yet I should have been happy, if 
I could have felt that the dreaded plague was left 
behind us, for we were now again en route towards 



■^ ' 



140 FROM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. VIH. 

conntries never before visited by a European, and I 
was buoyed up by the hope of making new dis- 
coveries. I and my men left Olenda at four o'clock 
in the afternoon ; our porters were to start with 
Ondonga at daylight the next morning. 

As my readers may perceive on examining the 
map, my route, on leaving Olenda, was a different 
one from that followed on my former journey. I 
was then bound for the Apingi country to the 
north-east of Olenda ; my present destination was 
Otando, lying south-east by east of the Ashira 
villages. 

About a mile or so east of Olenda commences the 
great forest which bounds the eastern side of the 
Ashira prairie ; and just within its borders flows the 
impetuous Ovigui. This river descends from the 
slopes of the Igoumbi Andele Mountains, south of 
Ashira-land, and skirts the western foot of the hilly 
range which separates the Ashira from the Otando 
country. It drains, with its numerous tributaries, the 
whole of the valley enclosed between the wooded 
ranges east and west of the Ashira prairie. I crossed 
it at a different place from that described in my 
former journey, but by a similar bridge — a slippery 
log lying across the torrent, with a rope of lianas 
stretched from tree to tree to hold on by. There 
had been a very heavy rain the previous night, and 
the Ovigui had overflowed its banks, forming three 
channels separated by islands. Many a tall tree stood 
in the water, and fallen trunks and branches were 
washed down, or lay stranded and quivering in the 
current. In crossing I had a mishap, for, before I 



Chap. VIII. SLAVE VILLAGE OF KING- OLENDA. 141 

could grasp the balustrade, my foot slipped, and I fell 
headlong into a deep hole, . from which I was extri- 
cated with difficulty. My arms and watches were 
fortunately not at all damaged by the bath, and I was 
glad to find that it did not damp the charges in my 
revolver, for, on reaching the opposite bank, I fired 
them all off, not a little to the surprise of the negroes, 
whose respect for the weapon was thereby very much 
increased. 

A march of about a mile beyond the river brought 
us to a large plantation, the chief slave settlement of 
the late King Olenda. It comprised a large extent 
of land cleared from the forest, and contained a 
village inhabited by the slaves, three or four hundred 
in number. I was greatly astonished to find the 
houses better built than in the town of Olenda, and 
the whole village more neat and orderly. The plan- 
tation extended over a picturesque and undulating 
tract of ground, with brooks of crystal water in the 
hollows. In places where these cool streams flowed 
under the shade of trees, their banks were most 
delightful, being overgrown with rich vegetation, and 
the trunks and branches of the trees overhead covered 
with vines and parasitic plants. The great quantity 
of plantain-trees in the open ground, with their 
gigantic, glossy leaves, the patches of ground-nuts, 
and the light green blades of the sugar cane, gave 
a pleasant aspect to the place, and hid the charred 
trunks and stumps of trees which are otherwise so 
unsightly in these clearings. 

The slave village had its chief, himself a slave, 
and all called themselves the children of Olenda. 



142 FEOM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. VHI. 

He was an Ashango man, a chief in his own country, 
and probably sold into slavery on account of witch- 
craft. He was a savage of noble bearing, and appa- 
rently of good disposition. He had several wives 
and a large family of children. The other slaves 
called him father, and he exercised quite a patriarchal 
authority over them. These plantations supply the 
household of the chief of the clan with food, and his 
wives have also small patches of clearing in the same 
place, which they cultivate themselves with the help 
of others. The majority of the slaves were inherited 
by old Olenda, and a great number had known no 
other master. This village was not the only slave- 
farm owned by the late chief, but it was the largest 
of them. 

I found here very stringent sanitary regulations 
against the prevailing epidemic. Every one showing 
the first symptoms of the small-pox was instantly 
carried away to a neighbouring village, or collection 
of huts, set apart for the purpose. This was full of 
patients, and was called by the negroes the small-pox 
village. 

We spent the night here, and early the next morn- 
ing Ondonga arrived with the porters. The first dis- 
agreeable news I heard was that several of them had 
run away before starting, taking, of course, their pay 
with them. I next discovered that three of my boxes 
were missing. Notwithstanding the protestations of 
Ondonga, I was convinced that he was at the bottom 
of another plot to rob me in the midst of my troubles. 
He appeared, however, rather alarmed at what had 
been done, and in the course of the day the boxes 



Chap. YIII. MORE EOBBERIES. 143 

were brought in, but tliey bad been opened and rifled 
of half their contents. At this, Ondonga pretended 
to be in a violent rage with the unknown thieves, 
and declared in a loud voice that there should be war 
against those who had dared to rob his white man. 
For a moment I thought he was sincere, and that, 
being young, his authority as successor to Olenda 
was not sufficiently established over his unruly clan 
to prevent me from being robbed by his subjects. 
The old slave-chief joined in the well-acted cry of 
indignation, and actually put spears into the hands 
of his sons, and bid them go forth with the rest to 
demand the restitution of my property. They then 
all hurried out of the place, shouting, cursing, and 
vowing death to the thieves. 

]^ext day a portion of the missing things was 
brought in, but the contents of the principal box, 
which contained my photographic apparatus, were 
never made good ; two of the focussing glasses had 
been taken or destroyed, and also the two black 
curtains. 

A greater calamity to me than the loss of my pro- 
perty, and the desertion of several frightened porters 
which followed, was the illness of my faithful com- 
panion, Macondai, who had been at last struck down 
with the small-pox. We could not delay our journey, 
and I had great reluctance to leave him behind, on 
many accounts. When we resumed our march he 
tried to walk with us, but he became so ill that we 
were forced to come to a stand. I held, as was my 
custom in cases of difficulty concerning the safety of 
our party, a palaver with my faithful body-guard, 



144: FEOM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. VIII. 

but to my proposition that I should remain behind 
and take care of Macondai they opposed a decided 
neg-ative, on account of the risk of further robberies 
if I sent the goods on without accompanying them 
myself. The poor lad himself prayed us to leave 
him. " All your porters will desert you," said he, 
"if you do not go on, and you will never reach 
Mayolo." We finally decided to leave Igalo with 
him at a plantation in the neighbourhood, and On- 
donga promised, with every appearance of good will, 
to send people to take care of him. 

We now continued our march. The country 
became more and more picturesque at every step. 
We were seven days on the road between the slave 
village and Mayolo ; but this included considerable 
stoppages, for the distance, in a straight line, is only 
a little over thirty-five miles. The road is a narrow 
track through a most varied and picturesque but 
dense forest, clothing the hills and valleys of the 
mountain range, which extends in a north and south 
direction, between the Ashira and the Otando 
territories. I call this the Otando range ; it is not a 
continuous ridge, but is broken up into a great 
number of hills, of greater or less elevation, with 
steep slopes and narrow valleys ; the highest eleva- 
tion at which I crossed the range was about 1,200 
feet. The hills are of primitive rock ; and nume- 
rous blocks of quartz lay strewed along the path 
nearly all the way. Quartz crystals also covered 
the beds of the sparkling brooks that flowed at the 
bottom of every valley, all running in a north- 
erly direction. The forest did not contain many 



Chap. VIH. PICTUEESQUE CASCADE. 145 

timber trees of gigantic size, but the treesgrew every- 
where close to one another and were matted together 
by a net-work of woody lianas, amongst which I 
noticed a great quantity of the climbing ficus, which 
produces gum elastic. It was impossible to see far on 
either side of the path ; in many places there was a 
dense growth of underwood, including dwarf species 
of palm-tree, and the ground was strewn all over 
with wrecks of the forest in the shape of broken and 
rotting branches, up-turned trees, and masses of 
decaying leaves. 

It was most toilsome marching up the steep hills, 
encumbered with the weight of our loads. A few 
miles south-east of the plantation, we came unex- 
pectedly upon a most enchanting sight. One of the 
numerous tributaries of the Ovigui here descends 
from the upper valleys, down the broken hill-side, in 
a most lovely cascade, filling the neighbouring forest 
with spray and favouring the growth of countless 
ferns and glossy-leaved plants. The forest nook 
looked like a place of enchantment, decked out with 
the choicest productions of the vegetable world. 
There was, however, throughout the whole march a 
great scarcity of animal life. Scarcely once did we 
hear the voices of birds, and at night, as we lay 
round the fires of the bivouac, all was still as death 
in the black shades of the forest. 

On the morning of the second day of our march 
we came to the river Louvendji, which I crossed, at 
a point lower down, on my former journey to the 
Apingi country. It is rather smaller than the 
Ovigui and different in character, having a rocky 



146 FROM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. YHL 

bed and water of crystal clearness ; both flow to tbe 
north, the Louvendji discharging itself into the Ovi- 
gui a little above the junction of the latter with the 
Ngoiiyai. The banks of the Louvendji nourished 
many tall palm-trees and gigantic ferns, which arQ 
absent from the hilly and drier grounds. 

I should have much enjoyed this part of my 
journey if I had been free from anxiety on account of 
the porters in whose hands my goods were entrusted. 
But guides and porters alike were bent on plundering 
me still further. I found it impossible to keep them 
all together. All sorts of excuses were invented for 
lagging behind, and I soon made the discovery that 
they were hiding their provisions in the bush — a 
sign that they intended to rob me and run away by 
the same road. 

On the first and second nights I ordered all the 
loads to be piled up near to the shed under which I 
slept, but on the third night, when we were assembled 
together to sleep, Mintcho and several of the porters 
were not forthcoming. They had stayed behind 
and did not overtake us till the next morning. On 
their arrival, Mintcho took the bull by the horns 
and told me to look into some of my boxes, for he 
thought they had been opened and plundered. He 
accused others of being the thieves, and mutual 
recriminations ensued, which ended in several of the 
porters laying down their loads and running away, 
and the rest (including some of the thieves) declared 
that it was of no use going any further, as the 
white man had been robbed and would not give them 
their pay. On opening some of the boxes I found a 



Chap. YHI. HUNGEK IN THE FOKEST. 147 

great number of valuable articles had been stolen, 
including two bottles of old brandy, a reserve in 
case of illness, and the loss of which was very 
vexing, as it was portion of a present made me by a 
valued friend in London.* I was imprudent enough, 
at first, to accuse Mintcho of knowledge of the thefts, 
a step which nearly led to my being left alone in the 
wilderness. I was obliged to retract, and allay his 
fears by saying that I did not hold him responsible.* 
My readers must bear in mind that Mintcho was all 
along the principal thief, together with the men he 
had with him, who obeyed his orders in everything. 
It was only by a temporizing policy, and by appeal- 
ing alternately to their vanity and to their fears, 
now coaxing and now threatening, that I could hope 
to avoid the hard fate of being left alone in this 
inhospitable forest. Towards the evening of the 
fourth day we came to a standstill ; so many porters 
had run away, that there were no longer men enough 
to carry our goods. 

The weather was stormy, and it was almost im- 
possible to shelter ourselves from the rains which fell 
every night. We could find no large leaves to make 
a good thatch for our sheds, and what with the dis- 
comfort caused by the frequent thunder showers, and 
the necessity of keeping watch over my goods, I got 
very little rest. As time went on, hunger came to 
add to our miseries. Negroes never take more than 
two or three days' provisions on a march, plantains 
being so heavy ; and as a large portion of what they 
carried on the present journey had been hidden in 

* Charles White, Esq., of Lime Street, London. 



e-^ 



148 FEOM OLEm)A TO MAYOLO. Chap. YIH. 

the busli, we were now reduced to very slender rations 
indeed, althougli still about fifteen miles distant from 
the nearest village of the Otando. 

I gathered our party together, and consulted with 
them as to what was best to be done. To my sug- 
gestion that some of the Ashira men should go 
forward to Mayolo and ask for porters, Mintcho and 
his friends opposed a decided negative. Neither 
would they allow two of their men and two of my 
Commi boys to go to Mayolo. They were afraid, in 
short, of being detained and punished by Mayolo 
for having robbed me. I finally resolved to send 
Mouitchi, with the Otando man who had been Aran- 
gui's prisoner. He departed with the promise of 
returning in two days with men to carry our goods, 
and a supply of food. 

I was now left with the Ashira rascals, eight in 
number, and with only two of my faithful Commi 
men to aid me in keeping watch over them. We 
were encamped in a small open space in the lone- 
liest and gloomiest part of the forest, on the top 
of a long sloping path which led into a deep valley 
on the Otando side. We were absolutely without 
food, and went supperless to bed, myself and my two 
men Rebouka and Ngoma having agreed to watch in 
our turns the Ashira, who pretended to be asleep in 
their olakos on the opposite side of the road. My 
baggage, alas! still too large and the cause of all 
my troubles, lay piled up beside our camp fire in 
front of us. 

We whiled away the early hours of night in 
talking of Quengueza and the country by the sea- 



Chap. VHI. LEGEND OF ATUNGULU SHIMBA. 149 

shore, or in relating and listening to legends and 
fables. This latter amusement was always to me a 
pleasant way of passing the time. The memory of 
the Equatorial African is well stored with parables, 
fables, and extravagant stories of one kind or 
another. Having improved my acquaintance, on the 
present journey, with several of the native languages, 
I was able to note down almost every story I heard, 
and thus accumulated a large collection of them. 
The following legend, connected probably with some 
natural phenomenon in one of the neighbouring rivers, 
is a sample of these African stories : — 

Atungulu Shimba was a king who attained the 
chief authority in . his village by right of succession, 
and built eight new houses. But Atungulu had 
sworn, that whosoever should quarrel with him he 
would eat him. And so it really happened until, 
finally, after eating his enemies one after the other, 
he was left alone in his dominions, and he then 
married the beautiful Arondo-ienu, daughter of a 
neighbouring king. 

It was Atungulu s habit, after his marriage, to go 
daily into the forest to trap wild animals, with the 
Ashinga net, leaving his wife alone in the village. 
One day Njali, the eldest brother of Arondo-ienu — 
for Coniambie (King of the Air), their father, had 
three sons — came to take back his sister out of the 
clutches of Atungulu Shimba ; but the king arrived 
unexpectedly and ate him up. Next came the second 
brother, and he was also eaten. At last came Ee- 
ninga, the third brother, and there was a great fight 



150 FEOM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. VIII. 

between him and Atungulu, which lasted from sun- 
rise till midday, when Reninga was overpowered and 
eaten like his two brothers before him. 

Benin ga, however, had a powerful fetich on him, 
and came out of Atungulu alive. The King, on 
seeing him, exclaimed, " How have you contrived 
this, to come back?" He then smeared him and 
Arondo-ienu with alumbi chalk, and putting his 
hands together, blew a loud whistle, saying after- 
wards, *' Reninga, take back your sister." He then 
went and threw himself into the water, to drown 
himself, through grief for the loss of his wife. 

Before dying, Atungulu Shimba declared that if 
Arondo-ienu ever married again, she would die ; and 
the prophecy came true, for she married another man 
and died soon after. Her brother Reninga, there- 
upon, through sorrow for the loss of his sister, threw 
himself into the water in the place where Atungulu 
died, and was drowned. 

At the spot where Atungulu Shimba died, a 
stranger sees, when he looks into the deep water, the 
bodies of the king and Arondo-ienu side by side, and 
the nails of his beautiful wife all glittering like 
looking-glasses. From that time, water has obtained 
the property of reflecting objects, and has ever since 
been called by the name of Arondo-ienu, and people 
have been able to see their own images reflected on 
its surface, on account of the transparency given to 
it by the bright nails of Arondo-ienu.* 

As the day dawned hunger came, but there was 

* lenu means " looking-glass " in the languages of tribes near the sea. 



Chap. YIII. KOOLA NUT-TEEES. 151 

no food to be had. There was no help for it, but to 
divide onr party and go in search of something to 
eat in the forest ; some, therefore, went to look for 
Koola nuts, and others took their guns and wandered 
in search of monkeys, or any other game they might 
find. The whole day passed, however, without any- 
thing being found, and we again went supperless to 
sleep. 

It was unfortunate for us that Koola nut-trees 
were so scarce in the part of the forest where we 
now lay, for this valuable nut is generally an un- 
failing resource at this season of the year. The 
natives never think of taking with them much food 
on a journey in the season when Koola nuts are ripe, 
but trust in finding their daily bread, as it were, 
under the trees. The tree is one of the tallest and 
finest in these forests. It grows singly, or in small 
groups, and yields so abundantly that, when the nut 
is ripe, the whole crown appears one mass of fruit. 
The nut is quite round, and has a very hard shell, so 
hard that it has to be broken with a stone. The 
kernel is about as large as a cherry, and is almost as 
compact in substance as the almond. It is very 
nourishing and wholesome ; about thirty nuts are 
enough for a single meal. The wild boar feeds on 
them in the nut season, and becomes extremely fat 
with the nutritious diet. 

The next day I went also myself into the bush, 
accompanied by an Ashira boy, and leaving Eebouka 
armed to the teeth to watch my baggage. I was so 
much weakened with hunger and anxiety that I 
could scarcely walk. For a long time I could find 



152 FEOM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. VIIL 

no traces of game of any kind, and was about to 
retrace my steps, when 1 heard the unmistakeable 
roar of the gorilla. For the moment I forgot my 
fatigue, and the old spirit was once more aroused 
within me. I plunged forward into the thick of the 
forest, breaking, as I went along, small boughs to 
enable me to find my way back, and tearing my 
clothes with the thorny underwood. The roar be- 
came nearer, and seemed to shake the ground under 
me. I heard the rustling of the branches, and 
fancied there must be more than one. The excite- 
ment of the moment was great, and was increased by 
the prospect of obtaining food for all our party. 
Suddenly the roaring ceased. I stopped, thinking 
that it was a male which was perhaps preparing to 
advance on me. But I listened in vain ; the beast 
had fled. When I reached the spot, I saw nothing 
but broken branches of trees. I measured some of 
these with my thumb, and found boughs of five 
inches diameter broken in two by the powerful grip 
of this monster of the forest. Although disappointed 
in my chase, I was glad to find a corroboration of the 
explanation I had given, in my former volume, of 
the wearing down of the animal's front teeth, for 
some of the branches bore plainly the tooth marks. 

I returned weary and hungry to the camp, and 
tried to sleep under my shed. But I could not sleep, 
and, in my prostrate condition, visions passed through 
my mind of the many good dinners I had eaten at 
the hospitable boards of my friends in Europe and 
America. Strange to say, dinners which I had en- 
tirely forgotten now recurred to my memory with 



Chap. VHI. UNSELFISH ACT OF THE ASHIRA. 153 

an almost morbid vividness. I conld tell every dish, 
and recalled the pleasant savour of many good 
things which I felt there was no hope of my ever 
enjoying again. 

Towards evening things began to mend. The 
Ashira returned from their chase successful, having 
killed two monkeys. How strange are the contra- 
dictions in the African character ! These men who 
had so remorselessly plundered me, and with whom 
my relations had been for a long time none of the 
pleasantest, came forward with great disinterested- 
ness and gave the whole of the meat up to me. I 
refused however to take it, and told them that as it 
was of their own procuring they were to divide it 
amongst themselves. They insisted, however, upon 
giving me the lion's share, which I did not a second 
time refuse. I divided it into equal portions between 
my Commi men and myself, and a most hearty and 
refreshing meal we made off our monkey. 

On the following day, hour after hour passed and 
no arrival from Otando. The Ashira men began to 
feel uneasy. They thought something was in pre- 
paration against them ; that Mayolo was mustering 
a force to come and punish them for their treachery 
to the white man, and for their imprisonment of an 
Otando subject. I had great difficulty, as the day 
wore on, to prevent them from leaving me ; they tried 
at jfirst to get their pay from me, but, on my refusal, 
threatened to run off without it. It was only by 
holding up before them the certainty of Quengueza 
making war on the Ashira if they forsook me en- 
tirely, that I finally prevailed on them to remain. 
12 



154 FROM OLENDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. YIII. 

At length voices were heard in the valley on the 
Otando side, then the report of a gun, and up 
bounded the long line of Otando men, headed by 
Eapelina, to the rescue, laden with provisions, and 
merry as crickets. Mayolo had sent for my own 
use a stock of Mpegui nuts, two fowls, and plenty 
of plantains. The arrival was most welcome, for we 
were again helpless with hunger. We had been 
again without food all day, and it was now evening. 

Mpegui nuts are the product of a large tree which 
grows abundantly in some parts of the forest, but is 
nowhere planted by the natives. The nut is quite 
different in form from the Koola nut already de- 
scribed. It is round, but the kernel is three-lobed 
and full of oil. The oily nature of the nuts enables 
the natives to manufacture them into excellent cakes, 
by pounding them in a wooden mortar, and enclosing 
the pulp in folded leaves, and then subjecting it to 
the action of smoke on a stage over a wood fire. 
They eat it generally with meat as we do bread, but 
when animal food is scarce it forms a good reserve, 
and is very palatable, seasoned with a little salt and 
pepper. 

After a good night's rest — the first that I had 
had for a long time — we arose refreshed in the 
morning, and the horns of the Otando men at sun- 
rise blew the signal for our departure. There had 
been again heavy rain in the night, and the rain- 
drops on the leaves of the forest trees glittered in the 
early sunlight. A thin mist hung over the deep 
valley before us, and in the coolness of the early 
hour we marched off at great speed, determined 



Chap. YIII. . AREIYAL IN OTANDO-LAN'D. 155 

not to spend another night in the solitude of the 
forest. 

Nothing occurred worthy of mention during the 
remainder of our march except the crossing of a deep 
river, another of the tributaries of the Ngouyai, about 
ten miles west of Mayolo. This stream is called the 
Oganga, and for me it was a new discovery, as I did 
not see it on my journey to the Apingi country in 
1858. It is a deep river at all seasons of the year. 
We traversed it by a bridge, formed of the trunk of 
a colossal tree which lay across it. We were delayed 
a short time on the banks of the stream by the men 
stopping to gather and eat Koola nuts, vast quanti- 
ties of which lay beneath a group of trees of this 
species that grew here. We were approaching the 
end of our journey, and the blue sky began to 
appear through the breaks in the crowns of the trees 
ahead. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MAYOLO. 

Arrival at Mayolo — .Reception by the Chief— Discovery of more Losses — 
I accuse the Ashira — Their Flight— Seizure of a Hostage— Gathering of 
the Head men of Otando — ^Mayolo falls ill — I am attacked by Fever — 
Great Heat and Thunderstorm — Arrival of Macondai and Igalo — ^Their 
Ill-treatment by the Ashira — Loss of Photographic Camera and 
Chemicals — Surgical Practice of the Otando — A Female Doctor — 
Matrimonial Squabbles— Mayolo's health improves— Witchcraft Ordeal 
— ^My Speech to the People — Speech of Mayolo — Curiosity of the 
Otando — A Female Duel— The Bashikouay Ants— A Precocious Thief 
— Mayolo again falls ill — Good news from the Apono country — Asto- 
nishment of the Natives at the Musical-box and Magnets — Climate of 
Mayolo — Deposit of Dew — The OtoUcnus — Eecovery of Macondai 
— The Alumbi Fetich — Departure from Mayolo. 

At length, on the evening of the 24th March, we 
emerged from the gloom of the forest into an open 
tract of grass-land, the Otando prairie, where every- 
thing seemed light and cheerful after the dark shades 
to which we had been so long accustomed. A wide 
stretch of undulating country lay open before us; 
the foreground of which was formed by prairie, the 
rest appearing as a continuous expanse of forest with 
long wooded ridges in the distance, one behind the 
other, the last and highest fading into blue mist 
in the far distance. From the margins of the forest 
the land gradually sloped, and signs of population 
were apparent in sheds and patches of plantation. 
A beautifully clear stream flowed near the prairie 



Chap. IX. AEEIYAL AT MAYOLO. 157 

and past tlie plantations towards the Ngouyai. A 
denser tract of forest, with lofty trees and nnmerons 
palms stretching across the distant landscape, marked 
the course of the great river Ngouyai which watered 
these fertile plains. As we approached the village 
of Mayolo, we fired off the customary signal-shots, 
and these brought a response of the same kind. The 
chief of the village possessed only one old Tower- 
musket, minus the stock, which had long been worn 
out ; it was still, however, a good gun. Powder 
was a scarce article in this inland country, and 
nothing but the hope of getting more from me could 
have induced Mayolo to waste his small stock. 

A number of men soon made their appearance, 
and led us, with loud cheers, to the palaver-house of 
the village. The beating of the kendo was then 
heard, and Mayolo himself was seen in the street 
advancing towards us ; his body streaked with 
alumbi chalk, and muttering mysterious words as he 
slowly marched along. On being seated, and after 
stopping the beating of the kendo, he looked towards 
my Ashira guides, and exclaimed, " So here he is at 
last, the great Spirit with his untold wealth ! " Then, 
turning to me, he told me of the great trouble he had 
had with the Otando people, who had tried all they 
could to dissuade him from receiving me, saying that 
I brought the plague and death wherever I came. 
He said he had vainly argued with them that I could 
not be the cause of the plague, seeing that the disease 
was already amongst them long before they had 
heard of the white man being even in the Ashira 
country. My heart warmed towards the sagacious 
old man for these sensible words, and we exchanged 



158 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

VOWS of friendship in face of the gaping crowd 
assembled around ns. 

Mayolo was the principal chief of the Otando 
country, and it was my interest to conciliate him as 
much as possible. He was a man of striking appear- 
ance ; tall, broad-shouldered, and very light-coloured 
for a negro. His eyes were small and piercing, and 
there was in them far more intelligence than is 
usually seen in negroes. His right hand had lost 
several of its fingers through the bursting of a gun, 
for he had been, in his younger days, a great 
elephant-hunter, and his bravery was well known 
all over the neighbouring country. He had a 
pleasant expression of features, notwithstanding that 
his face was daubed with ochre-coloured chalk of 
various shades ; one cheek being red and the other 
nearly white, including the circuit of the eyes. His 
people seemed to regard him with great reverence ; 
and, in their looks, one might read the thought, 
'' What a great man you are, Chief ! your fame 
it is that has brought the great Spirit amongst us ! " 

After Mayolo retired, a present of a large goat and 
two enormous bunches of plantains was brought in. 
We were almost famished, and had a great feast that 
evening. It was astonishing to see the quantity my 
Commi men could consume. Negroes can stand 
hunger well for a few days, but they make amends 
for it when food is put before them in abundance. 
Whilst dinner was preparing I went to see my man 
Igala, who was ill of the small-pox, in the hut where 
the goods were stored which I had sent with him. 
I found he had the confluent and worst form of the 



Chap. IX. DISCOVEEY OF MOEE LOSSES. 159 

disease ; the poor fellow seemed mucli pleased when 
I shook hands with him, and showed him I was not 
afraid of him. The Mayolo people had wanted to 
remove him from the hnt, but he had refused to 
leave the goods which I had put under his care. 

The next morning, on opening my japanned boxes 
to take out medicine for Igala, I made fresh discove- 
ries of the extent to which I had been robbed by these 
rascally Ashira. All the bottles containing medicines 
— castor-oi], calomel, laudanum, rhubarb, jalap — were 
gone ; besides a thermometer, two sun thermometers, 
several tins of preserved meats, camera, photographic 
chemicals, beads, and many other things. They were 
the boxes that had formed part of the cargoes of 
Mintcho, Ayagui, and the Apingi men. I could 
scarcely contain my vexation, and thoughts of being 
forced, for sheer lack of goods and instruments, to 
relinquish my object of penetrating further into th6 
interior, flashed across my mind. 

I now accused Mintcho boldly of the robbery, taking 
care to seize his gun and his two slave-bundles* 
beforehand. But the hypocritical rascal pretended to 
be in a rage with others for having robbed me. He 
worked himself into the appearance of violent passion, 
foaming at the mouth, and exclaiming, " Let me go 
back, Chaillie ; I will find out the robbers, and shoot 
them if they do not give up everything you have 
lost." Ayagui came in at this juncture, with a gun 
which Rebouka had lent him to go out shooting that 

* The slave-bundle is a parcel of goods amounting to the value of a 
slave, which the head men carried on the march, to buy slaves with on 
their own account. 



160 



MAYOLO. 



Chap. IX. 



morning. It was necessary to disarm this man, but 
lie refused when I requested him to deliver up the 
gun. The situation was now a critical one ; for, if 
I allowed the Otando people to see how I could be 
plundered, and afterwards set at defiance, the ex- 
ample would be fatal to the success of my expedition. 
I appealed to Mayolo, telling him that the goods of 
which I had been robbed were intended as presents for 
him, and that the gun which Ayagui refused to give 
up was also his property. This was a manoeuvre of 
mine, and was quite successful ; the Otando and 
their chief forthwith ranged themselves on my side, 
but Ayagui was not disarmed without great diffi- 
culty, for he threatened to fire on the first man 
who approached him. At this I called my four men 
together, ordered them to level their muskets at 
him, myself pointing my revolver, and this brought 
him to reason. The gun was handed over to Mayolo. 

Mintcho and the rest now made for the forest on 
their way home ; but, wishing to secure one of them 
as a hostage for the restitution of my property, we 
pursued them, and Rebouka seized one of them. To 
my vexation, instead of one of the men, he seized a 
boy, the son of my good Ashira friend, Adingo. The 
guilty fugitives at this were terribly frightened, but 
I took pains to let them know, before they were out 
of hearing, that we should do no harm to the boy, but 
would restore him as soon as my goods were brought 
back. Igala, though very ill, said if he had known 
what I wanted to do, he could have seized Mintcho 
himself. 

Our prompt action in this matter had the effect 



Chap. IX. SEIZURE OF A HOSTAGE. 161 

whicli I desired. It inspired the Otando people witli 
fear and respect for us, and showed that, though few, 
we were not to be trifled with. 

I now turned to our little prisoner. Poor fellow ! 
he was a mere boy, about twelve years of age, and 
my heart felt for him as I heard his moans when 
passing by the hut, for Rebouka had secured him so 
tightly with cords that he could not move a limb. 
He said to me, with tears in his eyes, " Oh, Chaillie ! 
you are my father's great friend ; I am but a child, 
and cannot run away. They will come back with all 
your stolen things ; Mintcho told me so. Oh, Chaillie ! 
I suffer so much. I am your boy. Did I not refuse 
to leave you, but followed you to the Otando country ? 
Do loosen the cords which hurt me so much." I 
ordered Rebouka to slacken the cords, which he did, 
but remonstrated terribly at my imprudence, telling 
me that I wasted my pity on the boy ; that I did not 
know negroes ; that negroes were not children at 
that age. " Do you think," said he, " that a child 
could have come from the ISTgouyai to the Otando 
country with the load this boy has carried ? " We 
then secured him under the verandah of my hut, and 
set a watch over him during the night. Mdyolo also 
urged me to keep a good look-out on the boy ; for then 
all my property would be sure to come back to me. 

Rebouka was right. The cunning little fellow 
escaped before the morning. He contrived to 
wriggle free of the cords which bound him, and 
fled whilst the guard was absent for a few moments. 
His escape was a great loss to me, for, had I suc- 
ceeded in keeping him, all the goods I had been 



162 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

robbed of would have been certainly restored — the 
boy being the son of a chief who had great influence 
over the Ashira. 

In the afternoon there was a gathering of the head 
men of the neighbouring villages, belonging to 
Mayolo's clan, and much speechifying and excite- 
ment. Mayolo swelled with pride on introducing the 
white man to them, and as I spread out the goods I 
intended for each of them as payment for the men 
they had sent to my assistance, he exclaimed, pointing 
at the goods : " Look ! this is the sort of plague the 
white man brings among us. Would you ever have 
had any of these fine things if I had not invited him 
to come ? " The appeal was not to be resisted. They 
all went away at the end of the palaver in good 
humour, and the next morning brought into the 
village presents of fowls, goats, ground-nuts, and 
plantains. Mayolo and the other chiefs said they 
would disprove the slander of the Ashiras, who 
wanted to keep all my goods for themselves and said 
there was nothing to eat in Otando-land. After this 
there were more speeches, and then the important 
ceremony, for me, of making return presents to all 
the donors. I had previously shown Mayolo what I 
intended to give, and he had remonstrated with me 
for giving them too much, saying they did not know 
the value of the things. I adhered^ however, to my 
purpose, and was rather astounded to hear Mayolo, 
on coming out of the hut, tell the chiefs that he had 
been persuading me to give each of them a good pre- 
sent ! On their sides they tried to look dissatisfied, 
and demanded more. This I resisted, and made a 



Chap. IX. THE CHIEF FALLS ILL. 163 

sliow of taking back tlie whole. They all laughed, 
and said, "No, we were only trying it on;" and 
looking at one another, they added, " He is a man ! " 
which means he is not to be humbugged, and is a 
high compliment. 

We had been only four days in Otando-land, when, 
to my great sorrow and vexation, Mayolo fell seriously 
ill. Thus it was my fate to see another chief cast 
down after my arrival in his country. Should Mayolo 
die, I felt that my expedition must come to an end, 
for it would be impossible to drive the idea out of the 
heads of the superstitious negroes that my presence 
was the cause of the death of their chiefs. Night 
after night I was ke23t awake with anxiety, listen- 
ing to the moans of the sick man. The heat of the 
weather, too, in the early days of April, was most 
stifling. A conflagration of the prairie round the 
village also came to add to our troubles, for I had 
great difficulty in removing the ammunition and 
goods from my hut in time to avoid a disaster. On 
the 1st and 3rd of April I over-exerted myself in 
taking several solar observations. The heat in the 
shade was about 92° Fahr., and in the sun it reached 
130° or 135° Fahr. I took, at night, several lunar 
observations, ascertaining the distances between the 
moon and Yenus and between the moon and Spica, 
and obtained also several meridian altitudes of stars. 
The sky was so clear that I was anxious not to let 
the opportunity pass of obtaining these observations. 
My exertions, however, combined with my heavy 
anxieties and the loss of my goods, brought on an 
attack of fever. It was fortunate that the scoundresl 



164 MATOLO. Chap. IX. 

had not robbed me of all my stock of quinine and 
calomel. 

The great heat of the weather culminated on the 
evening of the 5th of April, and we then had a most 
terrific storm, with claps of thunder exploding over 
our heads that made the whole place shake with the 
concussion. At the second explosion I felt a shock 
in my right leg, and a sudden jerk, which for the 
moment frightened me. Deluges of rain accompanied 
the electric explosion, and the weather became much 
cooler. Heavy rain fell again on the evening of the 
6th, but the weather afterwards cleared up, and the 
moon shone beautifully. 

Though far from well, I took a meridian altitude 
of Dubhe, so that now I was sure of my latitude, 
having taken several good observations. 

April Sth. Amidst all my cares a gleam of sunshine 
lights me up now and then. To-day one source of 
anxiety was taken off my mind in the arrival of 
Igalo with my poor boy Macondai. The Otando 
people seemed as much pleased as I was that all my 
party were now reunited. The state of Macondai was, 
however, a great drawback to my. rejoicing. I went 
to the hut, to which Igalo had led him, to see my faith- 
ful companion, but was horrified on beholding him. 
His head was swollen and covered with pustules, the 
nose seemed literally eaten up, and his body was in 
the same state. But the worst sight was one of his 
legs ; it was so swollen that it looked more like the 
foot of an elephant than that of a human being, and 
there was an appearance of gangrene commencing. I 
had known Macondai from a child, and loved him. 



Chap. IX. AEEIVAL OF IGALO AND MACONDAI. 165 

A cold cliill ran throTigh me at tlie thought that he 
would not recover ; I felt that I was to blame in 
bringing these faithful fellows all the way from the 
coast, to suffer and die amongst what were to them a 
foreign people. 

Igalo and Macondai now related the events which 
had happened in Ashira-land after my departure. 
They told me that Ondonga, the heir of Olenda, who 
had promised to take care of Macondai, removed 
them, on my departure, to another hut, which he told 
them belonged to his father-in-law, who would attend 
to the sick boy. He gave out that he himself was 
going to Olenda village, but would return in two days, 
and borrowed the cutlass I had left to take with him. 
Ondonga never returned, and the owner of the hut, on 
his appearance, demanded payment of them for lodg- 
ing. A few days afterwards, Mintcho, Ayagui, and 
the others made their appearance. They said I had 
refused to pay them until Macondai and Igalo had 
rejoined me, and told Macondai to make haste to be 
well ; but the owner of the hut, returning some time 
after their departure, told them the truth, namely, 
that I had retained their bundles, and refused to pay 
them, until my stolen property was restored. He 
told them also that the robbery had been planned 
beforehand between Ondonga and Mintcho. After 
this they had a visit from four Ashira people, who 
resorted to artifice to get Igalo out of the way for 
a few moments, telling him that he ought to go and 
fetch water to wash the sick boy's sores, and then, 
whilst Igalo was gone to the brook with the water- 
jar,, decamped with both the guns and all their other 



166 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

property, laughing at poor Macondai in his helpless 
state. After this he resolved to leave the wretched 
place, Macondai crawling slowly, supported by Igalo, 
who carried sufficient plantains for the journey. 

How I thanked my stars that I had not listened 
to the advice of those scoundrels to leave all my pro- 
perty in the woods. Out of all my thermometers I 
had now only one left, the centigrade, and but two 
aneroids to measure the height of mountains. I 
felt much the loss of my two thermometers, with 
which I measured the power of the sun, for I was 
exceedingly interested in these observations. The 
mountain aneroids and all my watches I always 
carried myself in a little japanned box. I felt the 
loss of my camera most keenly, for it was one of the 
things I had looked forward to with the greatest 
pleasure, to bring home a splendid and unique series 
of photographs of this inland country. This hope 
was now at an end; and the many months I had 
spent in learning the art, and the tedious practising 
in the coast country, to the great injury of my health, 
were all in vain. The thieves had also stolen a 
number of photographic views I had taken of vil- 
lages and natives, and of the live gorillas. I had 
been at very considerable expense in purchasing a 
complete apparatus and a supply of the best chemi- 
cals, and it was very annoying to think it should all 
be wasted in this way. I thought how much my 
vfriend, M. Claudet, would grieve, who took so much 
pains to instruct me in the art — and all his labours 
given freely, for the love of science. They had also 
carried off my cooking implements, working tools_, &c. 



Chap. IX. STOEMS— GKEAT HEAT. 167 

I heard a few days afterwards that two of the 
Ashira thieves had died soon after their return. 1 
wonder whether they had swallowed some of my 
chemicals ! It was the belief of the people that I had 
caused their death in some mysterious way for their 
robbery of my property, and I was considered a most 
potent wizard. 

On the 9th of April we had a tornado and rain at 
half-past eight in the evening. For hours, flash after 
flash of lightning was seen all round the horizon, 
except between the west and south. The heavens 
seemed ploughed up by the flashes. I have re- 
marked that the wind generally blows from the 
south-east, but sometimes in the morning it blew 
from the mountains between Mayolo and the Ngouyai 
country. On the 12th we had a tremendous tor- 
nado, the heaviest, I think, that we have had this 
year. It came from the north-east. 

April 20t/i. The weather still continued oppres- 
sively hot. At ten a.m. to-day the thermometer in 
the village marked 92° 30' Fahr.* I took my instru- 
ment into the neighbouring forest and found that 
the temperature there fell to 84° 20', and remained 
so until near four o'clock. When I returned to the 
village at a quarter-past four p.m. the thermometer 
stood at 92°. The great humidity of these dense 
shades causes an agreeable coolness, and I have 
noticed that when rain has fallen during the night 
there often remains some moisture on the surface of 
the leaves at two p.m., showing how slow, com- 

* For tlie convenience of the reader I have converted centigrade into 
Fahrenheit. 



168 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

parativelj speaking, is tile evaporation in these 
shady places. Whether it was owing to the heat 
of the weather, or to the low situation of Mavolo 
(for the prairie lies in a valley only 496 feet above 
the sea-level), I cannot tell, but I was unwell during 
the whole of our stay here, and was never free from 
feverishness and an oppressive sensation in the head, 
which were extremely dispiriting. Nevertheless, I 
was determined not to give way to feelings of lassi- 
tude, and took my daily bath in the sparkling rivulet 
which meandered through the prairie towards the 
forest. 

Some days after, an eruption of very small red 
pimples almost covered my body. I then thought 
that the small-pox had been checked by my having 
been vaccinated. 

Since my arrival in Mayolo, I have been com- 
puting my lunar observations, a very fatiguing task 
in this hot climate. 

Every day since I have been here we have had 

thunder and lightning. As I look towards the 

mountains in the east, heavy black clouds hang con- 

f tinually over the country, and it seems to rain there 

unceasingly. The people, pointing to that country, 
say it is the " Mother of Eain." Here, at Mayolo_, 
since the 12th, we have had alternately rain and 
sunshine — one day a tornado, the next day a clear 
blue sky. Since the sun has been east of the moon, 
I have only been able on one day to take the distance 
between the sun and moon. 

On the 22nd of April I saw a curious example of 
the surgical practice of the Otando people. In the 



Chap. IX. SURGICAL PRACTICE OF THE OTANDO. 169 

stillness of the afternoon, when the heat of the verti-^ 
cal sun compels every one to repose, I was startled 
by loud screams, as though some unfortunate being 
was being led to death for witchcraft. On going 
to the place, I found a helpless woman, who was 
afflicted with leprosy, and suffering besides under an 
attack of lumbago, undergoing an operation for the 
latter disease at the hands of the Otando doctor 
and his assistants. They had made a number of 
small incisions in the back of the poor creature with 
a sharp-pointed knife of the country, and were 
rubbing into the gashes a great quantity of lime- 
juice mixed with pounded cayenne-pepper. The 
doctor was rubbing the irritating mixture into the 
wounds with all his might, so that it was no wonder 
that the poor creature was screaming with pain, and 
rolling herself on the ground. It is wonderful to 
observe the faith all these negroes have in lime-juice 
mixed with cayenne pepper. They use it not only 
as an embrocation, but also internally for dysentery, 
and I have often seen them drink as much as half 
a tumblerful of it in such cases. The pepper itself 
I believe to be a very useful medicine in this climate, 
for I have often found benefit from it when unwell 
and feverish, by taking an unusual quantity in my 
food. 

Whilst I am on the subject of native doctoring, I 
must relate what I saw afterwards in the course of 
Mayolo's illness. I knew the old chief had been 
regularly attended by a female doctor, and often 
wondered what she did to him. At length one 

morning I happened to go into his house when she 
13 



170 MAYOLO. CnAP.IX. 

was administering her cures, and remained, an in- 
terested spectator, to watcli her operations. Mayolo 
was seated on a mat, submitting to all that was done 
with the utmost gravity and patience. Before him 
was extended the skin of a wild animal (Genettd), 
The woman was engaged in rubbing his body all 
over with her hands, muttering all the while, in 
a low voice, words which I could not understand. 
Having continued this wholesome friction for some 
time, she took a piece of alumhi chalk and made with 
it a broad stripe along the middle of his chest and 
down each arm. This done, she chewed a quantity 
of some kind of roots and seeds, and, having well 
charged her mouth with saliva, spat upon him in 
different places, but aiming her heaviest shots at the 
parts most affected. Finally, she took a bunch of a 
particular kind of grass, which had been gathered 
when in bloom and was now dry, and, lighting it, 
touched with the flame the body of her patient in 
various places, beginning at the foot and gradually 
ascending to the head. I could perceive that Mayolo 
smarted with the pain of the burns, when the torch 
remained too long. When the flame was extinguished 
the woman applied the burnt end of the torch to 
her patient's body, and so the operations ended. 

It seemed to me that there was some superstition 
of deep significance connected with the application of 
fire in these Otando cures. They appeared to have 
great faith in the virtues of fire, and this is perhaps 
not far removed from fire-worship. I asked the old 
woman why she used this kind of remedy, and what 
power she attributed to fire, but her only answer was 



Chap. IX. MATRIMONIAL SQUABBLES. 171 

that it prevented the illness with which Mayolo had 
been afflicted from coming again. The female doctor, 
I need scarcely add, had come from a distance ; for it 
is always so in primitive Africa — the further off a 
doctor or witchfinder lives, the greater his reputation. 

The wives of West African chiefs are almost as 
independent as their lords and masters. They have 
their own plantations, and have their own little 
property. When quarrels arise between them and 
their husbands, I don't think the latter always get 
the best of it, for wife-flogging is but very seldom 
resorted to by the men here. The following is a 
sample of the matrimonial disputes which I witnessed 
during my stay at Mayolo : — 

Mayolo was greatly enraged one day because his 
head wife — a young woman about twenty years of 
age, and remarkable for her light-coloured skin and 
hazel eyes — had mislaid or wasted his tobacco, a very 
precious drug here. He threatened to take away 
the pipe or condoquai, which is common property 
to man and wife, and so prevent her smoking any 
more. Instead of being frightened, the young wife 
retorted that the plantain-stem of the pipe was her 
own property, and that she would take it away, and 
what was he to do then ? — for he had not plantain- 
trees of his own, they were all hers. The dispute 
soon waxed fierce, and she then threatened to set fire 
to his house. At this the old man laughed heartily, 
and dared her to do it. It was the most serious 
squabble I had witnessed ; if Mayolo had been well 
in health at the time, and more seriously angry, the 
worst that would have happened would have been 



172 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

a flogging for the beloved wife. She might have 
then run away ; but any great act of cruelty does 
not enter the heads of these mild-tempered people, 
except as the punishment of witchcraft. 

Towards the end of April I was glad to find a 
decided change for the better in Mayolo's health. 
Macondai was also much improved, and I now saw 
some prospect of moving forwards towards the east. 
Unfortunately my hopes were soon after again cast 
down, by Mayolo's favourite wife and one of his 
nephews falling ill of small-pox. Mayolo, who was 
as anxious as I was to be off before the dry season 
set in, on account of the plantations he had to make, 
was now in great trouble. He rose the next day 
before daylight, and proclaimed aloud in the street 
of his village, before the people had gone out of 
their houses, that some one had bewitched the place, 
and that the mhoundou (poison ordeal) must be tried. 
Notwithstanding the love he seemed to have for his 
young wife, fear of the disease had the upper hand ; 
he sent her away to the village of her own people, 
where the plague was now raging, there to remain 
till she either died or became well ; the nephew was 
ordered into the woods, and people sent to build him 
an olako, or shed; his own wife, who was to attend 
on him, was to be prohibited from entering the vil- 
lage. These were strong sanitary measures. I was 
racked with anxiety and vexation. This abominable 
plague seemed to follow me everywhere. I had learnt 
from Macondai that the chiefs of Ashira Kamba, and 
especially Mbana and his wife, who had cooked for 
us when in the Kamba country, had died of the 



Chap. IX. ' WITCHCRAFT ORDEAL. 173 

disease after I had left. I had succeeded in prevent- 
ing the news from spreading in Mayolo, for my men 
had the good sense never to say a word about any- 
thing that might retard my progress ; but it filled 
me with grief to think that I should be thought to 
bring nothing but death to so many poor, kind- 
hearted people. 

The "finding out" or trial in the witchcraft case 
came oif on the 27th of April;* Mayolo being con- 
vinced that neither himself, his wife, nor his nephew, 
would have been ill if some one were not bewitching 
them, and seeking to cause their death. A cele- 
brated doctor had been sent for from a distance, and 
appeared in the morning decked out in the most fan- 
tastic manner. Half his body was painted red and 
the other half white, his face was daubed with streaks 
of black, white, and red, and of course he wore around 
his neck a great quantity of fetiches. The villagers 
were assembled and the doctor had commenced his 
divinations when I arrived at the place, a witness 
once again of this gloomy ceremony, which was dif- 
ferent from that of the Commi people seen formerly 
by me, as related in ' Adventures in Equatorial 
Africa.' The doctor counterfeited his voice when 
speaking, in. order to impress on the people a due 
sense of his supernatural powers of divination ; all 
the painting, dressing and mummery have the same 
object in view, namely to strike awe into the minds 
of the people. A black earthenware vessel filled 
with water, and surrounded by charmed ochre and 

* This ordeal — the jpona oganga of the Commi — is here called oyambif 
or oyamhe. 



174 MAYOLO. ' Chap. IX. 

fetiches, served tlie purpose of tlie looking-glass used 
by the coast tribes. The doctor, seated on his stool, 
looked intently and mysteriously into the water, shook 
his head, then looked into a lighted torch which he 
waved over it, made contortions with his body, trying 
to look as ugly as he could, then smoked the condo- 
quai (pipe)^ repeated the mummeries over again, and 
concluded by pronouncing that the persons who 
were bewitching the village were people belonging 
to the place. This oracular saying put the people 
into great consternation ; they all began to appear 
afraid of each other ; the nearest relatives were 
made miserable by mutual suspicions. Mayolo then 
rose and exclaimed in an excited manner that the 
mboundou must be drunk, appointing the following 
morning for the ceremony, as the people had eaten 
to-day, and the poison must be drunk on an empty 
stomach. 

At sunrise the next morning the village was empty. 
All had gone to a little meadow encircled by woods, 
a short distance away, to take part in the ceremony. 
Who were the suspected persons was kept secret, 
partly because they were afraid I would interfere. I 
thought it, however, better policy not to do so, but 
attended to witness the proceedings and to ascertain 
whether they diiffered from those followed on similar 
occasions near the coast. On entering the assembly 
I gave them the usual salutation, and shook hands 
with Mayolo. It soon appeared that the suspicions 
of the people fell upon three of Mayolo' s nephews, 
his consecutive heirs, it being thought natural that 
they should wish to get rid of him. I noticed that 



Chap. IX. DEINKING THE MBOUNDOU. 175 

the whole body of the people took an active part 
in the affair ; the doctor not openly naming anybody 
as the guilty parties. It was the people themselves 
who originated the suspicions, and they showed by 
their clamour how they thirsted for victims. Mayolo 
and the doctor remained silent. 

The nephews in vain protested that they were 
innocent, and declared that the accusation was a lie ; 
but they added that there were others who wanted to 
bewitch their uncle. They became enraged at the 
pertinacity of their accusers, and swore that the 
people should pay dearly for making them drink the 
mboundou. They said they were not afraid to drink 
it, for they were not wizards and would not die. 

Some of the relatives of the nephews and some of 
the people of the village now retired to a short dis- 
tance to prepare the poison. Roots of the mboundou 
were then scraped, and a vessel filled with the frag- 
ments, on which water was poured ; a kind of effer- 
vescence then took place, and the water became of a 
red colour, like the root itself. Sufficient was made 
to serve as a good draught to each of the accused. 
When the water becomes red, it is considered good 
mboundou, and ready to kill any wizards. The 
drinkers of the mboundou are not allowed to wit- 
ness the preparation, but their representatives may, 
to see that fair play is used. When at length the 
poor fellows were brought into the middle of the 
circle of excited spectators, it was horrid to see the 
ferocity expressed in the countenances of the people ; 
it seemed as though their nature had en^tirely changed. 
Knives, axes, and spears were held ready to be used 



176 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

on the bodies of fhe victims if they should succumb 
under the ordeal ; if the accused should become un- 
steady under the influence of the poison and stumble, 
the now quiet crowd would become suddenly frenzied 
and unmanageable. All seemed eager for the sacrifice 
of victims to their superstitious fears. It is chiefly 
through the immunity with which they can drink the 
poison that the doctors obtain such power over the 
people ; and no wonder, when so many people die 
under it. The mboundou is a most violent poison. 
This was proved by the analysis of its roots which I 
caused to be made after my former journey. 

A breathless silence prevailed whilst the young 
men took the much-dreaded cups of liquid and boldly 
swallowed the contents ; the whispering of the wind 
could be heard through the leaves of the surrounding 
trees. But it was only of short duration. As soon 
as the poison was drunk, the crowd began to beat their 
sticks on the ground, and shout, " If they are wizards, 
let the mboundou kill them ; if innocent, let it go 
out ! " repeating the words as long as the suspense 
lasted. The struggle was a severe one ; the eyes of 
the young men became bloodshot, their limbs trembled 
convulsively, and every muscle in their bodies was 
visibly working under the potent irritation. The 
more acute their sufferings became, the louder vocife- 
rated the excited assembly. I was horror-stricken, and, 
although I would gladly have fled from the place, 
felt transfixed to the spot. I knew that if they fell 
I should have no power to save them, but should 
be forced to see them torn limb from limb. At 
length, however, the crisis came — a sudden shiver of 



Chap. IX. KESULT OF THE OKDEAL. 177 

the body and involuntary discharge — and the first 
intended victim had escaped. The same soon after 
happened to the second and to the third. They 
gradually came back to their former state, but ap- 
peared very much exhausted. Some people never get 
over the effects of drinking the mboundou, although 
they pass the ordeal without giving way. They linger 
for a long time in a sickly condition, and then die. 
The trial was over, and the doctor closed the cere- 
mony by himself drinking an enormous quantity of 
the poison, with a similar result to that which we had 
witnessed in the young men, only that he appeared 
quite tipsy ; in his wild and incoherent sayings, 
whilst under the influence of the drink, he stated 
that the bewitchers of Mayolo and the bringers of 
the plague did not belong to the village, a deci- 
sion which was received with great acclamation. 
Mayolo was rejoiced that the wizards or witches 
did not belong to his own people, and the whole 
people were wild with joy : guns were fired, and the 
evening passed with beating of drums, singing, and 
dancing. 

To protect the village from the wizards who might 
enter it from the neighbouring villages, and who had 
been accused as the cause of Mayolo's troubles, the 
doctor, accompanied by the whole of the people, went 
to the paths leading to Mayolo from other villages, 
and planted sticks at intervals across them, connecting 
the sticks by strong woody creepers, and hanging on 
the ropes leaves from the core of the crowns of palm- 
trees. It is a recognised law among these people 
that no stranger can come within these lines When 



178 MATOLO. Chap. IX. 

I asked Mayolo what he would do if any one was to 
force the Hnes, he said that there would then be a 
grand palaver, but that there was no fear of such an 
event, for it never happened. Another reason for 
planting the lines was of a sanitary nature : small- 
pox was prevalent in several neighbouring villages, 
and Mayolo wished to prevent the relatives of the 
wives of his villagers (for people generally marry 
girls of distant places) from coming on a visit to 
them. I learnt to-day that the Otando man, who had 
accompanied me from Olenda, had since died of the 
plague, and the people of other villages had natu- 
rally come to the conclusion that his being in con- 
tact with me was the cause. He was one of Mayolo's 
fathers-in-law. It is marvellous how firm Mayolo 
adheres to the faith that I have nothing at all to do 
with the introduction of the plague. His influence 
is so great amongst his people that many have now 
come round to his opinion, and others dare not 
openly declare the contrary. 

Two days after the pona oganga I called my 
people, and Mdyolo and his people, together, and 
made a formal and resolute demand to be furnished 
with guides and porters to the Apono country. 
The speech which I made on this occasion was, as 
nearly as I can translate it, in the following words ; I 
spoke in similitudes, African fashion, and used African 
expressions : — 

"Mayolo, I have called you and your pegple 
together, in order that you may hear my mouth. 
When one of your people goes to the Ashira country 
to make trade, his heart is not glad until his friends 



Chap. IX. MY SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE. 179 

tliere have given him trade, althongh he may have 
been well treated in the meantime_, had plenty given 
him to eat, and a fine woman lent him as a wife. 
When yon go to the Apono country in order to get 
a slave on trust from your friend the chief, or some 
large tusk of ivory from an elephant he has killed, 
you are not satisfied until he has sent you back to 
your village with the slave or the ivory ; and your 
friend never fails to send you back with your desire 
granted. It is the same if you go to a man whose 
daughter you are very fond of, and who has promised 
to give her to you as a wife. For if, when you go to 
his house to get his daughter, instead of her he gives 
you plenty of food, your heart is not glad, though 
you have plenty to eat. The food will taste bitter, 
for it is not what you came for ! 

"So it is with me : I am not happy. I have not 
come to you, Mayolo, to make trade, to get slaves 
and ivory, or to marry your daughters. If I had 
come for these things, I am sure they would liave 
been given to me long ago. (The assembly here all 
shouted ' Yes ! they would have been given to you 
long ago ! ') 

" But you all know that I have not come for these 
things. I told you when I came, and you knew it 
before, that I wanted to go further away. I love you 
and your people. (Interruptions of ' We know you 
love us.') You have been kind to me and to my men. 
Though some of them have slept with your women, 
you have done nothing to them. You have given us 
plenty to eat ; you have stolen nothing from my men 
or from me ; I have been here as if in my own 



180 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

village. (Here tliej cried out, 'It is your own 
village; you are our king,' Mayolo leading tlie 
chorus.) If I wanted to get angry with you, I could 
not find a single cause for it. (At this Mayolo 
stiffened himself up and looked around, quite proud.) 
A few days after my arrival you, Mayolo, fell ill. 
You have a good head ; you know that I did not 
make you ill. I was very sorry to see you ill, for I 
have a heart like yourself. How could I like to see 
Mayolo, my only friend, ill ? (Here Mayolo smiled, 
and looked prouder than ever.) I love you, and I 
love your people for your sake. (Shouts of ' We are 
all your friends.') I am not an evil Spirit ; I do not 
delight in making people ill ; I do not bring the 
plague, for it was in your country before I came. 
(Loud shouts of ' Rovano ! ' — it is so.) My own 
people have also been ill ; how could I make them 
ill ? Macondai, my beloved boy, who has been with 
me from a little child, has been more ill than any 
other of my men ; how could I wish to make him ill ? 
I sit by spreading death and disease before me that 
I can go into the interior ? If you wanted to go 
amongst other tribes, would you spread illness before 
you ? So it is with me ; to go into the interior I 
must make friends. The plague goes where it likes 
and asks nobody. The people are afraid of me ; they 
do not see that I bring them fine things : beads, 
looking-glasses, cloth, and red caps for their heads. 
These are things that I wish to leave with the people 
wherever I go. 

" Now, Mayolo, you are getting better. You have 
a saying among yourselves that a man does not stand 



Chap. IX. SPEECH OF CHIEF MAYOLO. 181 

alone in the world ; lie lias friends, and there are no 
people who are without friends. You Otando have 
friends among the Apono and Ishogo people, where 
I want to go. If you ask trade of these friends, they 
give it to you. I come to you to ask you the road. 
Come and show me the road through the Apono 
country ; it is the one I like the best^ for it is the 
shortest. I will make your heart glad, if you make- 
my heart glad. I have things to give you all, and I 
want the news to spread that Mayolo and I are two 
great friends, so that after I am gone people may 
say, ' Mayolo was the friend of the Oguizi.' " 

The last part of the speech was received with tre- 
mendous shouts of applause, and cries of '' Kovano ! 
Rovano ! " Mayolo joining in with the rest. When I 
had finished I sat down on my footstool. 

Mayolo deferred his answer to the next day, as all 
his people were not present, and we then had another 
palaver, which I hoped would be a final one. The 
men were seated round in a semi-circle, the women 
forming a cluster by themselves, and in front was 
stationed a boy holding a goat, by the side of which 
were two bunches of plantains ; my own people were 
also present. Mayolo began his speech, and, as is 
customary, addressed a third person, Igala, saying : — 

" When a hunter goes into the forest in search 
of game, he is not glad until he returns home with 
meat. So Chaillie's heart will not be glad, until 
he finishes what he wishes to do. I have heard what 
Chaillie has told me. I am a man. Chaillie, the 
Oguizi (Spirit) has come to Mayolo ; I am Mayolo ; 
there is no other Mayolo but me. I am ashamed at 



182 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

this long delay ; I liave a heart, and Ohaillie shall go 
on. I know that some people, jealous of me, have 
told you that I have palaver in the upper country ; 
that I have taken their slaves on trust, and am in 
debt to them ; but it is a lie. The people are afraid 
of Chaillie ; we all know that he is a Spirit ; from the 
\time our fathers were born, his like has never been 
seen. The news has spread that he brings disease 
and death wherever he goes ; and so the people are 
afraid of him. I have been ill, but it is not he that 
has caused it, but other people who want to bewitch 
me, because of the good things that he has given me. 
I will go myself, in three or four days, to visit an 
Apono chief, a friend of mine, and will tell him that 
Chaillie eats like ourselves, drinks like ourselves, 
that he plays with our children, talks to our women 
and men, and does us good. I am Mayolo, and 
Ohaillie shall go on his way, and then his heart will 
be glad." 

Then turning to me, he said : " During the days 
you have to wait, take this goat and these two 
bunches of plantains, and eat them. We shall soon 
be on the long road, but I must feel the way first ; 
we must do things little by little. You cannot catch 
a monkey, unless you are very careful in going to 
it." 

I answered one of their sayings. " If you had 
said ' Wait, wait,' and I saw that you were not telling 
me the truth, the goat you have just given me could 
not be good, and I would have returned it to you, 
for it would taste bitter ; but I believe you." 

Thus I had to content myself^ whilst Mayolo was 



Chap. IX. EEJOICINa AT MAYOLO»S EECOVEET. 183 

exerting liimself to open tlie way for me into Apono- 
land, In the afternoon I made Igala cut, with a lancet, 
into the abscess on Mayolo's shoulder, which gave him 
great relief after the discharge of the matter. The 
good fellow thanked me very much, and we became 
better friends than ever. Next day he was so much 
elated with the improvement in his health, that he 
got tipsy on a fermented beverage which he had 
prepared two days before he had fallen ill, and which 
was made by mixing honey and water, and adding 
to it pieces of bark of a certain tree. The long 
standing had improved the liquor in his eyes, for the 
older the beverage, the more intoxicating it becomes. 
All the people of the village had a jollification in the 
evening to celebrate the recovery of their chief; 
Mayolo being the most uproarious of all, dancing, 
slapping his chest, and shouting " Here I am alive ; 
they said I should die because the Spirit had come, 
but here I am." 

During all the time he was ill he had been con- 
tinually looking forward to this "jolly treat." He 
had several of the jars of the country full of the fer- 
mented beverage. Fortunately, he was very inoffen- 
sive when under the influence of drink. Scarcely 
able to stand steady, he came up to me, crying out, 
" Here I am, Chaillie, well at last. I tell you I am 
well, Oguizi ! " and, in order to prove it to me, he 
began to leap about and to strike the ground with 
his feet, saying, " Don't you see that I am well ? 
The Otando people said, the Apono said — as soon as 
they heard that you had arrived in my village — 
' Mayolo is a dead man ! ' As soon as I fell ill, they 



184 ^ MAYOLO. Chap. TX. 

said, ' Mayolo will never get up again ! ' But here 
I am, alive and well ! Give me some powder, that 
I may fire off the guns, to let the surrounding people 
know that I am well ! " 

I quietly said, "Not to-day, Mayolo, for your head 
is still weak." 

He laughed, and went away shouting, "I knew 
the Oguizi did not like to see me ill. I am Mayolo ! 
I will take him further on ! " 

Throughout the month of April I frequently re- 
galed myself with what I used to consider a very 
good dinner : that is, a haunch of monkey cooked on 
the grille. Formerly I had always had a great aver- 
sion to eating monkeys (not, however, from any ideas 
about their relationship to man), but hunger and the 
scarcity of other animal food had compelled me lately 
to make many a meal on these animals. This is the 
height of the monkey season in Otando-land, the 
season lasting through March, April and May, during 
which months they are so fat that their flesh is really 
exquisite eating. I know of no game better or more 
relishing ; the joints must be either roasted or grilled, 
to bring out the flavour of the meat to perfection. At 
all other times of the year except these three months 
monkeys are lean, tough, and tasteless. It is the 
same with the wild hog of these regions ; from 
February to the beginning of May, when the fatten- 
ing Koola nut is ripe and falls in abundance from the 
trees, the wild hog gets something like an overfed 
pig at home, and the meat is delicious eating. I felt 
to-night that I had dined well, and did not envy 
Sardanapalus his dainties, for I doubted whether this 



Chap. IX. CURIOSITY OF THE OTANDO. 185 

luxurious monarch ever liad fat monkey for dinner. 
I recommend all future travellers to cast aside their 
prejudices and try grilled monkey, at least during the 
months I have mentioned. They will thank me for 
the advice. Many wild fruit trees are now in full 
bearing and the monkeys have splendid feed. I 
finished my dinner with pine-apple as dessert ; the 
season, however, is now past for pine-apples, it began 
when I entered the Ashira country and lasted during 
the whole of the time of my stay there. 

Mayolo after his recovery became more friendly 
than ever. He was naturally of an inquisitive turn 
of mind, and in his frequent conversations with me 
occupied all my time in answering his questions. 
One day he came with all his people and all the 
women of the village, to ask me a number of 
questions. He first asked how the women worked 
our plantations ? I told him women did no field- 
work with us. They were astonished to hear this, 
and still more to hear that plantains and cassava 
were almost unknown in my country. They all 
shouted, " Then what do you eat ? " I explained 
to them that we had always plenty to eat. 1 
told them that we had bullocks like their wild 
cattle, which remained tame in our villages like 
their goats, and that we taught them to carry 
things. They would hardly believe me, when I 
added that in their own country there were 
tribes of black men who owned tame oxen. Con- 
tinuing the subject, I said that there were countries 
in which even elephants were tamed, and taught to 
carry people on their backs. At this a wild shout of 
14 



186 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

astonisliment arose from tlie assembly, and remember- 
ing that I had a copy of the " Illustrated London 
News " containing an Indian scene with elephants, I 
went and fetched it to prove that I told them the 
truth. There was a rush forward to look at the 
picture over Mayolo's shoulders. They all recog- 
nised the animals as elephants, and expressed their 
astonishment at the men on their backs ; above all, 
they wondered to see the animals represented as tied 
by the feet and kept quiet. ^ Punch,' the travellers' 
friend, excited their wonder greatly. They all ex- 
claimed, " What a fine cap he wears ! " and asked me 
if I had any like it. They were quite disappointed 
when I told them I had not. 

Then came numerous questions about white men. 
How they stared when I told them that our houses 
were made of stone, the same material as was found 
on their mountains. The last question was a delicate 
one ; it was, "Do white men die ? " I wished them 
to remain in their present belief that we did not die, 
for their superstitious feeling towards me was my 
best safeguard ; so I feigned not to hear the question, 
and turned their attention to another subject. 

The people generally, and especially the women, 
became emboldened after this long chat ; and I could 
see some of the buxom matrons laughingly conferring 
with one another, as if on some important business. 
At last one of them, bolder than the rest, said : " We 
have seen your head and your hands since you have 
been among us, but we have never seen what the 
rest of your body is like ; it would make our hearts 
glad, if you would take off your clothes and let us see." 



Chap. IX. A FEMALE DUEL. 187 

This polite request I of course flatly refused to comply 
with, and they did not press it. Another request 
they made I was able to grant : this was to talk the 
Oguizi language. I gave them a few samples of 
French and English, but I very much doubt if they 
could perceive the difference. They believe that 
all white men belong to one people, and of course, 
beyond the fact that they land on their shores from 
the great sea, know nothing of the different nations 
of the world or where they are situated. When I 
asked them where they thought the Ngouyai river 
ended, they answered, " Somewhere in the sand." 

After our long conversation I felt tired and went 
for a walk over the prairie. This pleasant day was 
ruffled in the evening by a violent quarrel between 
two Ashira married women, one of them being a 
stranger who had come to Mayolo on a visit to her 
friends. It appeared that one of the men of the 
village called this woman towards him ; and his wife, 
on hearing of it, asked her husband what business he 
had to call the woman, and, getting jealous, told him 
she must be his sweetheart. The husband's reply 
being, I suppose, not altogether satisfactory, the en- 
raged wife rushed out to seek her supposed rival, 
and a battle ensued. Women's fights in this country 
always begin by their throwing off their dengui^ 
that is, stripping themselves entirely naked. The 
challenger having thus denuded herself, her enemy 
showed pluck and answered the challenge by promptly 
doing the same ; so that the two elegant figures im- 
mediately went at it, literally tooth and nail, for they 
fought like cats, and between the rounds reviled each 



188 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

otlier in language the most filthy that could possibly 
be uttered. Mayolo being asleep in his house, and 
no one seeming ready to interfere, I went myself and 
separated the two furies. 

In the meantime Oshoumouna and the men sent 
by Mayolo to open the way for me into Apono-land, 
returned last night, frightened away by the recep- 
tion they had met with from the people of the 
Apono village to which they had gone, and which is 
situated on the right bank of the Eembo ^Ngouyai. 
As soon as they said who they were, and that they 
had beads with which to buy some salt — for the 
Apono trade a good deal in salt, paying for it in 
slaves — the villagers shouted out, "Go away! go 
away ! We don't want to have anything to do 
with the Oguizi, or with the people who have 
come in contact with him ! We do not want 
your beads ! We want nothing that came with the 
Oguizi ! " 

This news filled me with sorrow. Mayolo tried to 
comfort me ; but my prospects were indeed dark and 
gloomy. 

May 6th, After taking several lunar distances to- 
night between the moon and Jupiter, and feeling 
tired, as I generally do after night observations, I 
went into a little shed behind my house and took a 
cold shower-bath — at least, an imitation of one — by 
splashing water over me ; I find this very refreshing 
and cooling before retiring to rest. I then went into 
my chamber ; but I came out of it again faster than 
I entered, for I had stepped into a band of Bashi- 
kouay ants, and was quickly covered with the nimble 



Chap. IX. THE BASHIKOUAY ANTS. 189 

and savage little creatures, who bit me dreadfully. 
I was driven almost mad with pain. I did not dare 
to light paper or apply fire to the invading horde of 
ants, inside the place, on account of the quantity of 
gunpowder stored in my chamber; thus I had to 
abandon my house to the irresistible ants, who had 
become perfect masters of it. I at once called my 
men, and we succeeded in finding the line of the 
invading host outside of the house ; to this we applied 
fire, and burnt many thousands of them ; but it was 
not until half-past two in the morning that the house 
was cleared. 

When I rose, feverish and unrefreshed, the next 
morning, I found the Bashikouays again in the house. 
This time they emerged from a number of holes 
which had newly made their appearance in the 
ground near my house, and which were the mouths 
of the tunnels or galleries leading from their sub- 
terranean abodes. I was thankful that it was day- 
time, for if it had been night they would not have 
been long before paying me another visit. An in- 
vasion of a sleeping-chamber by these ants at night 
is a very serious matter, for an army of Bashikouays 
swarming over the body during sleep would wake 
a person up rather disagreeably. There can be no 
doubt that if a man were firmly tied to a bed so that 
he could not escape, he would be entirely eaten up by 
these ants in a short space of time. I have heard 
that men have been put to death for witchcraft in this 
way. Happily their bite is not venomous. We 
poured boiling water down the newly-made galleries 
and over the columns of ants that were issuing from 



190 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

them, so that they were again driven awaj^ and we 
were saved from another invasion. 

May IQtJi. I witnessed to-day a striking instance of 
the inborn cnnning and deceit of the native African. 
My people had spread ont on mats in front of my 
hut a quantity of ground-nuts, which we had bought, 
when I observed from the inside of the hut a little 
urchin about four years old slily regaling himself with 
them, keeping his eyes on me, and believing himself 
unnoticed. I suddenly came out, but the little rascal, 
as quick as thought, seated himself on a piece of wood, 
and dexterously concealed the nuts he had in his hand 
under the joints of his legs and in the folds of his 
abdominal skin ; then looked up to me with an air of 
perfect innocence. This, thought I, is a bright ex- 
ample of the unsophisticated children of nature, whom 
some writers love to describe, to the disadvantage of 
the corrupted children of civilization ! Thieving, in 
these savage countries, is not considered an offence 
against the community ; for no one complains but he 
who has been robbed. My precocious little pilferer 
would therefore have no teaching to prevent him 
from becoming an accomplished thief as he grew 
older. 

In the evening, as I was computing the lunar dis- 
tances I had taken, I was startled by the sudden 
screech of a woman. I went out immediately, and 
found that it was the mbuiri woman, who had been 
suddenly seized with the spirit of divination — the 
mbuiri having entered into her. She raved on for 
some time, the theme of her discourse being the eviva 
or plague. 



Chap. IX. GOOD NEWS FROM APONO-LAND. 191 

May 14zth. My misfortunes will never terminate 1 
Mayolo lias another abscess forming. I begin to 
think I shall never get beyond this Otando country. 
Mayolo, however, assures me that he will send his 
nephew onward to Apono to prepare the way for us. 
He told me our great difficulty would be to get ferried 
across the river, which could only be done by the aid 
of the chief of Mouendi, a village near thebanks of 
the I^gouyai. I went to my hut and selected a pre- 
sent for the Apono chief, a bright red cap, a string 
of beads, and some powder ; and in giving them to 
Mayolo to send by his messenger, I told him to say 
I should bring him many other fine things when I 
came myself. It was necessary to overcome the 
scruples of the Apono, who dreaded a visit from me 
lest I should bring evil on their village. 

May 15th, Mayolo's messenger returned to-day with 
the joyful news that the Ajoono chief would receive 
us. The chief had sent a kendo as a return present 
to Mayolo, with the words " Mayolo has given me 
birth, how can I refuse him what he asks ? Tell 
him to come with his ibamha, Mayolo has not died 
through receiving the Spirit ; why should I die ? " 

Many people of Mayolo's clan came to-day to see, 
before I left their country, the many wonderful things 
I had brought with me ; and Mayolo himself, though 
not very well, could not resist the temptation to leave 
his hut and join the sightseers. I first brought out 
a large Geneva musical box, and having wound it up 
inside my house, set it down on a stool in the street. 
On hearing the mysterious sounds they all got up, 
looked at each other, then at me and the box. to see 



192 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

whether I had any communication with it, and 
worked themselves into such a state of fright that 
when a little drum inside beat, they all took to their 
heels and ran away as fast as they could to the other end 
of the village, Mayolo leading the van. I went after 
them, and tried to allay their fears, but their belief 
was not to be shaken that a devil was inside the box. 
They came back, but would not sit down, holding 
themselves ready to run again, if anything startling 
occurred. They were completely mystified when they 
heard the music still going on although J was walk- 
ing about at a distance from the box, holding no com- 
munication with it. I remained away from it a long 
time walking about in the prairie, and the music was 
still going on when I returned, to the great perplexity 
of the simple villagers. I offered to open the box to 
show them that there was no devil inside ; but as soon 
as I touched the lid with that intention, they all 
started for another run ; so I did not open it. 

I showed them an accordion ; and, being no player 
myself, made simply a noise with it, which pleased 
them amazingly. They were more pleased with it 
than with the musical box, for there was no mystery 
about the cause of the noise to alarm them. Then I 
got out a galvanic battery, and experimented on such 
of them as I could persuade to touch the handles. 
When they felt the shock they cried out '' Eninda ! " 
this being the name of a species of electric fish found 
in the neighbouring streams. They all cried, " Why 
did you not show us these things before ?" Finally, 
after showing them pictures and other objects — the 
portraits of the Movers of the Address in the ' Illus- 



Chap. IX. ASTONISHMENT OF THE NATIVES. 193 

trated London News' attracting their notice more 
than anything else — I exhibited my large magnet, 
which I knew would astonish them. I asked one 
man to come near with his Apono sword, and stag- 
gered him by taking it out of his hand with the 
magnet. I asked for other swords, and knives. 
All were handed to me at arm's length, for they were 
afraid of approaching the magical instrument, to 
which the red paint gave additional terrors. When 
they saw their knives and swords sticking to the 
magnet without dropping, sometimes by the edges 
and sometimes sideways, they all shouted out : " He 
is surely an Oguizi (Spirit) to do these things." I 
invited them to take the instrument in their hands, 
but they dared not ; Mayolo's curiosity eventually 
overcame his fears, and he handled the magnet with 
the air of a man who is doing something very 
courageous. At the conclusion of the exhibition the 
old chief exclaimed that I was immensely rich, and 
that if I was not a king I must be next in rank to 
the king in my country. He was astonished when I 
told him that the kings of the white men had pro- 
bably never heard of me. He thought I was telling 
him a very wicked story, and did not believe me. 

The day previous to this I had a good laugh at the 
alarm of one of these simple Otando people, when 
using my boiling-point apparatus to ascertain the 
height of the place. I was engaged in taking the 
observation, when a native, attracted by curiosity, 
came to see what I was doing. He looked earnestly 
at the aneroids, then at the bull's-eye lantern on the 
top of which was the little kettle where water was to 



194 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

be boiled, and then at the thermometer screwed into 
the kettle : when he had finished his inspection he 
withdrew to a distance, in a state of bewilderment and 
fear that was comical to behold ; but I pretended to 
be taking no notice of him. These people fancy that 
I travel with all sorts of fetiches and am possessed 
of supernatural power — -a belief which I did not try- 
to upset, as it stood me in good stead. I now lighted 
the lamp and proceeded to boil the water ; as soon as 
the negro saw the steam ascending, and heard the 
bubbling of the water, his courage finally gave way, 
and he fled with the utmost precipitation. 

My photographic a|)paratus, or at least what re- 
mained of it, was much admired by friend Mayolo. 
He was the most inquisitive man of his tribe, none of 
whom were wanting in curiosity, and he was never 
weary of asking me questions and inspecting my 
wonderful stores. When I first took out the photo- 
graphic tent from its box, he was amazed, after seeing 
it fixed, to discover what a bulky affair could come 
out of so small a box. After fixing the tent I with- 
drew the slide and exposed the orange-coloured glass, 
and invited the mystified chief to look through it at 
the prairie. At first he was afraid and declined to 
come into the tent ; but on my telling him that he 
knew I should never do anything to harm him, he 
consented. He could not comprehend it. He looked 
at me, at my hands, then at the glass, and believed 
there was witchcraft at the bottom of it. After 
Mayolo had come out of the tent unharmed, the rest 
of the negroes took courage, and my tent was made a 
peep-show for the remainder of the day. 



Chap. IX. CLIMATE OF MAYOLO. 195 

The climate of Mayolo seems very variable and 
■uncertain ; and night after night I was disappointed 
when preparing to take lunar distances or meridian 
altitudes of stars, by the sudden clouding of the 
heavens. The sky would often be very clear and 
settled, inducing me to get my sextant in order, 
prepare a quicksilver artificial horizon, and note 
the index error ; but a thick mist would suddenly 
arise and put an end to all operations. But now 
and then I had magnificent nights, so that I suc- 
ceeded in taking a pretty long series of obser- 
vations for latitude and longitude before I left 
Mayolo ; so complete are they, that the position of 
the town may be considered as well fixed ; but I 
should fail were I to attempt to describe the diffi- 
culties and disappointments I had to contend with in 
completing them. There was something rather 
remarkable also about the deposit of dew. I re- 
marked that at Mayolo and Ashira the grass was 
often very damp before sunset, when the sun had dis- 
appeared behind the mountains. It was so damp 
that it wetted my shoes in walking through ; and, at 
ten minutes after sunset, dew drops were plentiful 
along the edges of the plantain leaves, even on those 
trees which the sun had shone upon just before dis- 
appearing below the horizon. The dew drops 
glittering on the margins of these beautiful leaves 
looked like crystal drops or gems, appearing the 
brighter from the contrast with the velvety green hue 
of the magnificent foliage. One evening I watched 
closely the first appearance of these dew drops. 
At a quarter past five, before the sun had quite 



196 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

disappeared behind the hill-tops, I counted thirty-six 
drops of dew on the leaves of one tree ; but three 
quarters of an hour later the edges of the leaves were 
quite surrounded with water. The sky at the same 
time was very clear, only a few clouds near the 
horizon could be seen. At six o'clock the grass was 
not sufficiently damp to leave water-marks on my 
boots ; so that it is to be concluded that the leaves 
of the plantain are the first to condense the invisible 
vapour of the atmosphere. Up to the present time 
(May 18th) I have only twice seen the sky entirely 
free from cloud since my arrival at Fernand Vaz 
from England. 

On the 16th of May, whilst I was in the prairie at 
a short distance from Mayolp, studying the habits of 
the white ants, I was aroused from my meditations by 
sudden screams from the town. I was afraid some- 
thing tragical was taking place, and made haste for 
the village. I found the place in an uproar ; all 
caused by an influx of poor relations. It appeared 
that the news of the vast wealth Mayolo had obtained 
from the Oguizi had spread far and wide over the 
neighbouring country, and, getting to the ears of the 
old chief's numerous fathers-in-law and brothers-in- 
law, some of them had jou:rneyed to his village with 
a view to getting a share of the spoils, their greediness 
overcoming their fear of me. The people of the 
village had been plagued to death with these 
avaricious guests, for they were all thought to have 
become rich since I am living amongst them. As 
time is of no importance to the African, and during 
their stay they were living at the expense of the 



Chap. IX. DOMESTIC QUARREL. 197 

villagers, it was no easy matter to get rid of them. 
The fathers-in-law praised the beauty and all the 
good qualities of their daughters married to the chief, 
hinted that he had got a cheap bargain in this one 
and had not paid enough for the other; and some 
of them actually threatened to take away their 
daughters unless something more was given. Poor 
Mayolo, sick of the worry, had asked me for various 
things to give them in order to get rid of them, but 
they were insatiable. 

The row this morning was between Oshoumouna, 
Mayolo's nephew, and his father-in-law, arising out 
of these unsatisfied demands for more pay. The old 
man was very discontented, saying, that though he 
had given him his daughter, he had not had a single 
thing given him by the Oguizi. It was in vain 
that Oshoumouna assured him that I never gave 
presents for nothing. Whilst I was absent, the 
father-in-law had ventured to use force to take away 
his daughter. It is a very common thing in Africa 
for a father-in-law to take away his daughter, if he 
is not satisfied with the husband's conduct. Oshou- 
mouna took no notice of the abduction, and the row 
was caused by the father-in-law, enraged at this cool- 
ness, proceeding to demolish his son-in-law's house. 
A general melee ensued ; old Mayolo rushed out and 
belaboured the aggressor with a club ; the women 
screamed, and a fearful uproar took place. As usual, 
the object was to see who could make the most noise, 
and in this contest the father-in-law was no match 
for the villagers. 

The discomfited father-in-law left the village, and 



198 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 

took his daugliter with him, saying that her husband 
should never see her again ; but the damsel gave her 
father the slip before night and returned to her hus- 
band. There was general rejoicing in the village, 
and Oshoumouna bragged greatly of the love and 
fidelity of his wife, although she accounted for her 
return by saying that she loved the place where the 
Oguizi was, for there she could get beads. 

During the latter part of my stay at Mayolo, I had 
in my possession a beautiful little nocturnal animal, 
of the Lemur family, an OtoUcnus, called by the 
negroes Ibola, It is nocturnal in its habits, and has 
immensely large eyes, and a fur so soft that it re- 
minded me of the Chinchilla. I had it about a fort- 
night. The species lives in the forests, retiring in 
the day time to the hollows of trees, where it sleeps 
till the hour of its activity returns ; but it sometimes 
also conceals itself in the midst of masses of dead 
boughs of trees, where daylight cannot penetrate. 
In broad daylight you could see by the twinkling of 
its eyes and its efforts to conceal itself, that light 
was painful to it. At first I had no means of pro- 
tecting it during the. day, and the delicate little 
creature used to cover its eyes with its tail to keep 
out the light. ISTo thing but ripe plantains would it 
accept for food. I was much grieved one morning 
to find the poor Ibola dead, for it had become quite 
tame, and liked to be caressed. 

My boy Macondai was now entirely recovered, 
with the exception of sore eyes, from which many 
negroes suffer after the small-pox has disappeared ; 
some lose their sight from the effects of the disease ; 



Chap. IX. THE ALUMBI FETICH. 199 

one only of my men was afflicted in this way, Monitchi, 
who became blind of one eye. One of Mayolo's 
fathers-in-law was quite blind from this disease. All 
my Commi companions having thus got over the 
danger, with the exception of Rapelina, who had not 
had the disease, I was anxious only for Mayolo, whose 
abscess was still slowly progressing and confined him 
to his house. As the time approached for our de- 
parture, a marked increase of attention and kindness 
was noticeable on his part. Every day a present of 
eatables came to my hut cooked by his head wife ; 
one day a plateful of yams, another day a dish of cas- 
sava, and so forth. But I suspected a trick was being 
played upon me, having recently become acquainted 
with an African custom, of which I had not pre- 
viously heard, and which consisted in serving, in 
dishes given to a guest, powder from the skull of a 
deceased ancestor, with a view to soften his heart in 
the matter of parting presents. This custom is called 
the alumhi. 

I had long known of the practice of preserving 
in a separate hut the skulls of ancestors, but did 
not know of this particular use of the relics. In 
fact, a person might travel in Africa for years 
without becoming aware of this singular custom, 
as no negro will divulge to you the whole details 
of such a matter, even should he be one of your best 
friends. 

Most travellers in this part of the continent are 
puzzled to know the meaning of certain miniature 
huts which are seen standing behind or between the 
dwelling-houses, and which are held sacred. No one 



200 MA YOLO. Chap. IX. 

but the owner himself is allowed to enter these little 
huts ; but Quengueza's great friendship for me over- 
came his African scruples in my case ; and I was 
permitted, on my return from the interior, to examine 
his alumhi-houQe, These erections are spoken of 
by travellers as fetich-houses; and if, perchance, a 
stranger is allowed to peep into one, he sees 
a few boxes containing chalk or ochre, and upon a 
kind of little table a cake of the same, with 
which the owner rubs his body every time he 
goes on a fishing, hunting, or trading expedition. 
The chalk is considered sacred, and to be smeared 
with it serves as a protection from danger. If 
you are a great friend, the chalk of the alumbi 
will be marked upon you on your departure from 
the residence of your host. But the boxes generally 
contain also the skylls of the ancestors of the owner, 
at least those relatives who were alive during his 
own life-time ; for, on the death of such a relative, 
his or her head is cut off and placed in a box 
full of white clay, looking like chalk, where it is 
left to rot and saturate the chalk ; both skull and 
saturated chalk being then held sacred. The skulls 
of twin children are almost always used for the 
alumbi. 

When a guest is entertained of whom presents are 
expected, the host, in a quiet way, goes from time to 
time into the fetich-house and scrapes a little bone- 
powder from a favourite skull, and puts it into the 
food which is being cooked as a present to the guest. 
The idea is, that, by consuming the scrapings of the 
skull, the blood of their ancestors enters into your 



Chap. IX. PEEPAKATIONS FOE DEPAETURE. 201 

body, and tliTis, becoming of one blood, you are 
naturally led to love them, and grant them what 
tbey wish. It is not a pleasant subject of reflection, 
but I have no doubt been operated upon on pre- 
vious journeys ; being now, however, aware of the 
custom, I refused the food, and told Mayolo I cared 
very little to eat of the scraped skull of his grand- 
father. Of course, Mayolo indignantly denied it ; 
he said he had offered me food out of pure love 
for me. 

The last days of May were employed in re-packing 
my large stores of baggage. It was a most laborious 
task ; everything had to be sorted, and all that was 
not absolutely necessary secured in packages to be 
left behind. How I wished it were possible to travel 
through Africa with a lighter load ! Amongst the 
things to be left behind were the remains of my 
photographical outfit ; I packed them up with a 
heavy heart, so much did I regret being unable to 
continue taking photographs. Notwithstanding the 
lightening of my loads, I still required forty-five 
porters to carry them. 

A few days before my departure we held a grand 

palaver, and I made my request for the requisite 

number of porters. All wished to go, and, to the 

credit of Mayolo, I must say that I never had less 

trouble in arranging the terms of payment. To 

Mayolo himself I gave all the goods that I had set 

apart to leave behind, owing to the necessity of 

lightening my baggage, including all that remained 

of my photographic apparatus. I had given to him 

more presents than to any other chief^ with the 
15 



202 MAYOLO. Chap. rX. 

exception of my stauncli friend, King Quengueza. 

He was overjoyed at tlie splendour of the presents, 
,,_ • but said, *' Truly, goods and money are like hunger; 

HI i you are filled to-day, but to-morrow you are hungry 

agam ! 



CHAPTEE X. 

THE OTANDO AND APONO REGION. 

Geographical Position of Mayolo — Splendour of the Constellations as seen 
from the Equatorial Kegions — The Zodiacal Light — Twinkling of the 
Stars — Meteoric Showers — The Otando and Apono Plains, or Prairies 
— The Otando People a branch of the Ashira Nation — Their Customs — 
Filing the Teeth — Tattooing — Native Dogs. 

From Olenda eastwards, as attentive readers of my 
former and present narratives will be aware, the 
countries I traversed were new ground, not only to 
myself, but to any European ; it is, therefore, neces- 
sary that I should give such details as I am able, in 
the course of my journey, about the various portions 
of the country, their inhabitants and productions. 

Unfortunately, the volume of my journal, which 
contained the diary of my march from Olenda to 
Mayolo, and of more than two months of the latter 
part of my stay in this place, was lost, with nearly 
the whole of the rest of my property, in my hurried 
flight from Ashango-land. It was the only volume 
out of ^Ye that was missing. It contained the obser- 
vations which I took for altitudes of the range of 
highlands separating the Ashira from the Otando 
districts ; and I am, therefore, unable to give a full 
account of this range, which is an important feature 
in this part of Africa, as separating, together with 



204 THE OTANDO AND APONO EEGION. Chap. X. 

the lower hilly range west of Olenda, the coast-lands 
from the great interior of the continent. I remember, 
however, that some part of the country was more 
than 1,200 feet above the level of the sea, as shown 
by the aneroids. 

The town of Mayolo I determined, by a long series 
of observations, to lie in 1° 51' 14" S. lat., and 
11° 0' 37^' E. long., and 496 feet above the sea- 
level. ' ^ 

At Mayolo, the contemplation of the heavens af- 
forded me a degree of enjoyment difficult to describe. 
When every one else had gone to sleep, I often stood 
alone on the prairie, with a gun by my side, watching 
the stars. I looked at some with fond love, for they 
had been my guides, and consequently my friends, 
in the lonely country I travelled ; and it was always 
with a feeling of sadness that I looked at them for 
the last time, before they disappeared below the 
horizon for a few months, and always welcomed them 
back with a feeling of pleasure which, no doubt, those 
who have been in a situation similar to mine can 
understand. I studied also how high they twinkled, 
and tried to see how many bright meteors travelled 
through the sky, until the morning twilight came 
and reminded me that my work was done, by the 
then visible world becoming invisible. 

I shall always remember the matchless beauty of 
these Equatorial nights, for they have left an indelible 
impression upon my memory. 

-The period of the year I spent at Mayolo (April 
and May) were the months when the atmosphere is 
the purest, for after the storms the azure of the sky 



Chap. X. SPLENDOUR OF THE CONSTELLATIONS. 205 

was SO intensely deep, that it made the stars doubly 
bright in the vault of heaven. 

At that time the finest constellations of the Southern 
Hemisphere were within view at the same time. The 
constellation of the Ship, of the Cross, of the Centaur, 
of the Scorpion, and the Belt of Orion, which include 
the three brightest stars in the heavens, Sirius, Ca- 
nopus, and a Centauri. 

The planets Venus^ Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were 
in sight. 

The Magellanic clouds — white-looking patches, 
especially the larger one — brightly illuminated as 
they revolved round the starless South Pole, con- 
trasting with the well-known " coal-sack " adjoining 
the Southern Cross. 

The part of the Milky Way, between the 50° and 
80° parallel, so beautiful and rich in crowded nebulae 
and stars, seemed to be in a perfect blaze between 
Sirius and the Centaur ; the heavens there appeared 
brilliantly illuminated. 

Then looking northward, I could see the beautiful 
constellation of the Great Bear, which was about the 
same altitude above the horizon as the constellations 
of the Cross and of the Centaur ; some of the stars in 
the two constellations passing the meridian within a 
short time of each other; y Ursae Majoris half an 
hour before a Crucis, and Benetnasch eleven minutes 
before j3 Centauri. 

Where and when could any one have a grander 
view of the heavens at one glance ? From a Ursge 
Majoris to a Crucis, there was an arc of 125°. Then, 
as if to give a still grander view to the almost en- 



206 THE OTANDO AND APONO EEGION. Chap. X. 

chanting scene, the zodiacal h'ght rose after the sun 
had set^ increasing in brilliancy, of a bright yellow 
colour, and rising in a pyramidal shape high into 
the sky, often so bright that it overshadowed the 
brightness of the milky way and the rays of the 
moon, the beautiful yellow light gradually diminish- 
ing towards the apex. It cast a gentle radiance on the 
clouds round it, and sometimes formed almost a ring, 
but never perfect, having a break near the meridian ; 
at times being reflected in the east with nearly as 
much brilliancy, if not as much, as in the west, and 
making me almost imagine a second sunrise. 

I had noticed this yellow glow before at Olenda 
in March, where it was sometimes very bright ; but 
it was only at Mayolo I began to write down obser- 
vations upon it. April and May were the months 
when the light showed itself in its greatest brilliancy. 
It often became visible half an hour after the sun had 
disappeared, and was very brilliant, like a second 
sunset. It still increased in brilliancy, and attained 
often a very bright orange colour at the base. It 
rose in a very distinct pyramidal shape, which some- 
times, if I remember well, must have extended about 
40°, the bright yellow gradually becoming fainter and 
fainter at the top. The brilliancy and duration varied 
considerably on different days, and also the breadth 
and height. It could be seen most every day when 
the sky was clear ; and as it faded away, it left behind 
it a white light, which also showed itself in the east. 
It was generally the brightest from a quarter to 
seven to half-past seven, but there were exceptions ; 
sometimes it would be later, and at times the glow 



Chap. X. THE ZODIACAL LIGHT. 207 

would fade and then reappear with fresh strength ; but 
generally the inci'ease and decrease of brilliancy was 
uniform. It was seldom discernible after ten o'clock. 

Unfortunately the book containing these observa- 
tions on the light has been lost, but a few notes on 
it are scattered here and there in my journal. 

April 13th, The weather has been cloudy, with a 

few showers To-night the sky presents 

a magnificent appearance after sunset. The glow 
coming from the west was so bright that it over- 
shadowed the brightness of the Milky Way. I could 
only distinguish it above the Sword of Orion; the 
glow was the brightest below the planet Mars, and 
the base of the pyramid reached, on the south, the 
part of the Milky Way at the foot of the Cross. At 
the north point of the horizon its extent was about 
the same. 

April 16th. The weather has been cloudy until 
past noon, and to-night the sky is clear though a 
little hazy. The glow of light coming from the west 
is beautiful, and is quite white ; at seven o'clock it 
was still of great intensity, though it had dimin- 
ished. I do not remember to have seen it so bright 
before. 

Ma^ 6th. Yesterday the bright yellow light which 
appears after sunset was magnificent, and could be 
seen above the trapezium in Orion notwithstanding 
the strong moonlight, the moon being then nearly 
at the full. Indeed, I have never seen the zodiacal 
light shine so brightly ; one might fancy, if it was 
not towards the west, the dawn of morning coming. 

Mai/ lAth. After sunset I observed a phenomenon 



208 THE OTANDO AND APOJMO EEaiON. Chap. X. 

that mucli surprised me; the zodiacal light had its 
counterpart in the east. 

Now I will make a few observations on the 
twinkling of starsl Some persons have believed 
that, in our northern latitudes, the stars twinkle 
more than within the tropics. I spent this last 
summer at Twickenham at Mr. Bishop's observatory, 
and have watched the scintillation of the stars, and 
I doubt much if this conclusion is right; unfortu- 
nately, I have also lost the notes I had made on this 
subject. I remember distinctly that one of the stars 
of the Belt of Orion twinkled until it reached the 
zenith; others twinkled to a considerable altitude. 
There were nights when they seemed to twinkle 
more than at other times. 

"While watching the stars, in the southern heavens, 
it appeared to me that a Centauri was changing to 
a ruddy colour. It was certainly not so white as j8 
Centauri, and often, through a light mist so common 
there, I could recognise it through its reddishness. 
I should say, that it was only with the naked eye 
that these observations were made. 

The most southern star of the constellation of the 
Ship (e Argus), distant from Canopus about 17° 43', 
was quite red to the eyes. 

In regard to the April shower of meteors, I only 
saw them few in number ; there was nothing to com- 
pare with the number of those I observed this year 
at Twickenham, in company with the distinguished 
astronomer, Mr. Hind ; but many were far brighter. 
Almost every night, while observing at Mayolo, I 
could see brilliant meteors, many of which seemed to 



Chap. X. PLAINS OE PKAIEIES. 209 

emanate from the direction of Leo, thongh its altitude 
was very high. 

All the inquiries I made concerning the fall of aer- 
olites have been fruitless ; the negroes never saw any, 
though I suppose that, as in every other country, 
some may have fallen, but they are buried in these 
impenetrable forests. 

Mayolo lies on the western edge of an undulating 
plain about twenty miles broad, stretching between 
the Ashira ranges of hills and the higher ridges of 
Ashango in the interior ; this plain averaging about 
400 feet above the sea-level, and the hilly ranges 
running nearly north-west and south-east. The plain 
is covered in many places with a clayey soil, but in 
other parts with masses of fragments of ferruginous 
sandstone. It is watered by the Ngouyai and its 
affluents, which river flows in a north-westerly 
direction, and, cutting through the hilly range 
north of Ashira-land, forms a junction some thirty 
miles further down with the Okanda (apparently 
a still more important stream) ; both together then 
form the great River Ogobai, which pursues a south- 
westerly direction through the coast-plains to the 
Atlantic. 

The plains east of Mayolo are inhabited, as will 
presently be seen, by the Otando and the Apono 
tribes. These plains consist chiefly of undulating 
grass-land, diversified by groups of trees, or small 
circumscribed tracts of forest, in which are many 
magnificent timber-trees ; the banks of the river are 
almost everywhere lined with trees for a hundred 






210 THE OTANDO AND APONO EEGION. Chap. X. 

yards or more from the water's edge. Now and 
then the prairie reaches to the water-side. The 
grass-lands extend in a north-west and south-east 
direction, and the numerous negro-villages are gene- 
rally built in the prairie. Some of the wooded 
islands or isolated patches of forest are many miles 
in length ; the prairies are covered with tall grasses 
and shrubs, without any mixture of bushes or trees. 
The soil of the forest tracts is generally more fertile 
than that of the prairies, and it is within their 
shades that the plantations of the people are situ- 
ated. The Otando villages round Mayolo are sur- 
rounded by groves of plaintain-trees ; and the broad 
magnificent leaves of these trees form a striking 
contrast with the grass that surrounds them. 

I have little to remark respecting the Otando 
people. They are a branch of the Ashira nation, 
speaking the Ashira language, and having a similar 
physical conformation to the people of that tribe, 
together with the same superstitions, customs, arts, 
warlike implements, and dress ; but they do not 
seem to be so industrious in the manufacture of the 
grass cloth. 

I found many of the people not very dark-skinned. 
They had various fashions as regards their teeth. 
Many file the two upper incisors in the shape of 
a sharp cone, and the four lower ones are also 
filed to a sharp point. Others file the four upper 
incisors to a point. A few among them have the 
two upper incisors pulled out. They tattoo them- 
selves on the chest and stomach, but keep the face 



•> 



Chap. X. NATIVE DOGS. 211 

smootli. Among the young people very few liave 
their teeth filed : the custom is dying out. \^ 

One day, in my rambles near Mayolo, two of my 
native dogs had a severe fight with a very large 
white-nosed monkey {cercopithecus), and came back 
to me in a dreadful state, especially my dog An- | 

deko, who, being always the first in a fray, generally 
came off worse than his comrade. In this encounter 
with the white-nosed monkey, he had the flesh of his 
fore-leg bitten through to the bone, and his upper 
lip was cut in two by a terrible gash. Andeko was 
famous for his courage. He had at different times 
taken alive young gorillas, young chimpanzees, and 
young boars. 

These native dogs are keen, active animals ; they 
are seen in the interior of purer blood than in the 
Commi country, where they have become much 
changed by crossing with European dogs of various 
breeds, brought by trading vessels. The pure bred 
native dog is small, has long straight ears, long 
muzzle, and long, curly tail — very curly when the 
breed is pure. The hair is short and the colour 
yellowish, the pure breed being known by the clear- 
ness of this colour. They are always lean, and are 
kept very short of food by their owners ; in fact, 
they get no food except what they can steal. Al- 
though they have a quick ear, I do not think highly 
of their scent. My head man, Igala, keeps a large 
number of dogs for hunting at his plantations in the 
Fernand Vaz. They are good watch-dogs, but are 
often destroyed by leopards in the night. As I have 



212 THE OTANDO AND APOXO REGION. Chap. X. 

Y 

/^ stated in * Equatorial Africa,' hydrophobia is un- 
known in this part of the continent. I have only 
now to confirm that statement ; it appears, therefore, 
conclusive that heat is not the cause of this terrible 
disease. 



II 



CHAPTEE XL 

ANTS. 

The White Ants of tlie Prairies — The Mushroom-hived Termes — Interior 
of their Hives — Three classes in each Community : Soldiers, Workers, 
and Chiefs — 'Their mode of building — The Tree Ants — Curious structure 
of their Hives — Their process of constructing them — The Bark Ants — 
Curious tunnels formed by them — The Forest Ants — Large size of their 
Shelters or Hives — The stinging Black Ant. 

DuRDsra my stay at Mayolo, I occupied a great part 
of my leisure hours in studying the habits of the 
many different species of white ants (Termites), the 
nests of which are very conspicuous objects in the 
prairie. The study of these curious creatures was 
most fascinating, and it was a source of great enjoy- 
ment to me in the midst of so many cares and 
anxieties. The ants are of wonderful diversity, 
both in form of body, head, and so forth, and in 
architectural tastes. I beo:an to form a collection 
of them, putting specimens of the different kinds, 
in their various stages, in little glass tubes filled 
with spirits, having brought an assortment of 
these tubes for the purpose of preserving minute 
insects. The loss of this collection in my retreat 
from Mouaou Kombo I felt most keenly, as I had 
hoped the specimens would have explained much that 
still remains obscure in the history of these curious 
insects. It prevents me also from giving the proper 



214 



AOT^S. 



Chap. XI. 



scientific names to the different varieties, each of 
which builds a different kind of nest; the natives 
have only a general name for all the species. 



Mushroom-hived Termes. — Let us begin with the 
species which builds the mushroom-shaped edifice. 
These singular hives, shaped like gigantic mush- 
rooms, are scattered by tens of thousands over the 
Otando prairie. The top is from twelve to eighteen 
inches in diameter, and the column about five inches ; 
the total height is from ten inches to fifteen inches. 
After the grass has been burnt they present a most 
extraordinary appearance ; near Mayolo they are 
met with almost at every step. They are not all 
uniformly built, as they appear at a distance, but 
differ in the roundness or sharpness of their summits. 
I opened a great number of these, and followed up 
my researches day after day into the habits of their 
inhabitants. These and all similar edifices are built 
to protect the white ants against the inclemencies of 
the weather, and against their enemies, . which are 
very numerous, and include many predaceous kinds 
of fellow ants. 

The mushroom-shaped hive is not so firmly built 
in the ground but that it can be knocked down by a 
well-planted kick. It is built of a kind of mortar 
after being digested in the stomachs of the ants, 
When felled, the base of the pillar is found to have 
rested on the ground, leaving a circular hollow, in 
the middle of which is a ball of earth full of cells, 
which enters the centre of the base of the pillar, and 
the cells are eagerly defended by a multitude of the 




NESTS OF MUSHROOM- ANTS AND TREE- ANTS. 
(ptando Prairie.) 



i 



Chap. XL MUSHEOOM-HIYED TEEMES. 215 

soldier class of the ants, wliicli I took to be males, 
all striving to bite the intruder with their pincer-like 
jaws. On breaking open the ball — which, when 
handled, divided itself into three parts — I always 
fonnd it full of young white ants in different stages 
of growth, and also of eggs. The young were of a 
milky-white colour, while the adults were yellowish, 
with a tinge of grey when the abdomen is full of 
earth. Besides these young ants, there were a great 
many full-grown individuals, whom I took to be 
females, and who appeared to be the workers or 
labourers described by entomologists. These have 
not elongated nippers like the soldiers, but have very 
bulky abdomens, and they are inoffensive. We shall 
see presently what their distended abdomens are used 
for. Besides these soldiers and workers, I always 
saw, whenever I broke a hive, a very much larger 
specimen than the other two, which came in from 
the inner galleries, looked round, and went away 
again. These large ants were very few in number. 
There were, therefore, three distinct sets of indi- 
viduals. To these large ones I shall give the name 
of head men or chiefs. 

In order to examine the rest of the structure I 
often took an axe and broke the nest into several 
pieces ; but the material was so hard that it required 
several blows before I succeeded. I tried then to 
make out the structure of the chambers and galleries 
of which the interior was composed. But before I 
could do this, I was somewhat perplexed at dis- 
covering that there was another distinct species of 
white ant mixed up with the proper architects of the 



216 ANTS. Chap. XL 

edifice. The soldiers of this other species were much 
smaller and more slender, and_, as I broke the pieces, 
these two kinds fell to fighting one another. On 
close inspection I found that these slender fellows 
came out of cells composed of a yellow earth, whilst 
the others inhabited cells of black earth. The yellow 
colour was due to a coating of some foreign substance 
on the walls of the cell. The chambers inhabited by 
the slender species did not communicate with those 
peopled by the lords of the manor ; they seemed 
rather to be inserted into the vacant spaces or par- 
tition walls between the other cells. No doubt they 
had intruded themselves, after the building had been 
finished, from under the ground. In the fight the 
larger kind showed no mercy to the smaller. It was 
quite marvellous to witness the fury with which the 
soldiers of the one kind seized the bodies of the others 
with their powerful pincer-jaws, and carried them 
away into their own chambers. The soldiers of the 
slender kind also possessed long pincer-like jaws, and 
I noticed in one instance, when a worker of the larger 
kind had seized a small worker, who was in her last 
struggle for life, that one of these slender soldiers flew 
to the rescue, and snapping into the soft abdomen of 
the assailant, twice its size, let out its contents ; the 
slender one then fell from the pincers that had 
gripped her, but life was extinct. The rescuer came, 
examined the body, and seeing that she was dead, 
went away and disappeared ; if she had been only 
wounded she would probably have been carried away, 
as they do the young. I may here remark that, 
with the exception of the head, the body of the ter- 



Chap. XI. MUSHROOM NESTS. 217. 

mites is exceedingly soft. On examining the struc- 
ture of the soldiers, it is evident that their powerful 
pincer-jaws are made for wounding and piercing, 
while the structure of the workers shows that their 
pincers are made for the purposes of labour. Nothing 
astonished me more than this impetuous attack ; my 
attention was intense on this deadly combat ; the 
weaker species knew the vulnerable point of his for- 
midable enemy, who was too busy to protect himself. 
A further examination showed me that the mush- 
room-like cap of the whole edifice was composed of 
both black and yellow cells. This curious mixture 
of two species, each building its own cells and yet 
contributing to form an entire and symmetrical 
edifice, filled me with astonishment. The wonder did 
not cease here, for in some of the mushroom-like 
heads there was still a third kind quite distinct from 
the other two, and not a white ant. 

The mushroom nests are built very" rapidly, but 
when finished they last, in all probability, many 
years. The ants work at them only at night, and 
shut out all the apertures from the external air when 
daylight comes, for the white ant abhors daylight ; 
and when they migrate from an old building to 
commence the erection of a new one, they come 
from under the ground. Sometimes they add to 
their structures by building one mushroom- head 
above another ; I have seen as many as four, one on 
the top of the other. The new structures are built 
when the colony increases ; new cells must be found 
for the new comers. The shelter is quite rain-proof. 

I passed hours in watching the tiny builders at 
16 



218 ANTS. Chap. XI. 

their daily labours in tlie cells, which I was enabled 
to do by laying open some of their cells, and then 
observing what went on after all was quiet. So soon 
as the cells are broken, a few head men or chiefs are 
seen ; each one moves his head all round the aperture, 
and then disappears into the dark galleries, appa- 
rently without leaving anything. Then the soldiers 
come ; these do no work, but there must be some 
intention in these movements ; they no doubt were 
on guard to protect the workers. I was never able, 
even with my magnifying glass, to see them do any- 
thing. The workers then come forward, and each of 
them turns round and ejects from behind a quantity 
of liquid mud into the aperture, and finally walls it 
up. They come one after the other, and all of 
them leave their contributions ; this is done first 
in a row from one end of the aperture to another, 
then each ejection is put on the top of the other 
with a precision that would do honour to a brick- 
layer or stonemason. The question to me was to 
know if the same ants went away to eat more 
earth and came again. How much would I have 
given to be able to see into the dark recesses of the 
chambers! but I do not see how this will ever be 
done. The apertures of the cells were only closed 
during the day, and during the following night the 
part of the structure which I had demolished was 
rebuilt to its original shape. Some of them brought 
very small grains of sand or minute pebbles, and 
deposited them in the mud ; when demolishing their 
shelter, I saw several cells filled with these little 
pebbles, which I had also collected and preserved. 



Chap. XI. MODE OF BUILDINa. 219 

Soon after others came and closed up the cell. The 
earth which they eat can be seen shining through the 
thin skins of their bodies_, but I was unable to see 
where it was stored in the interior of the edifice. 
The mud is mixed with gluey matter, through the 
digestion, when it is ejected, and with this material 
the little creatures are enabled to build up the thin 
tough walls which form their cells, and, in course of 
time, the firm and solid structure of the entire nest. 
Sun and rain are equally fatal to the white ants; 
thus it is necessary that they should build a hive 
impervious to light, heat, and rain. I have put 
white ants in the sun, and they were shortly after- 
wards killed by its heat. I thought each cell was, 
perhaps, inhabited only by one ant, but the great 
number I saw in each mushroom-like edifice made it 
quite improbable that it should be so. 

I believe these white ants of the prairie are quite a 
different species from those which live in subterranean, 
dwellings, and which make their appearance suddenly 
through the floor of one's hut and devour all sub- 
stances made of cotton or paper ; these are very fond 
of eating wood, and are often found in dead trees. 
In these species, the sense of smell, or some other 
sense equivalent to it, must be very acute. One may 
retire to bed in fancied security, with no sign of 
white ants about, and in the morning wake to find 
little covered ways overspreading the floor and chests 
of clothing and stores, and the contents of the chest 
entirely destroyed, with thousands of the busy ants 
engaged in cutting the things with their sharp jaw- 
blades. Everything made of wool or silk is, how- 



220 ANTS. Chap. XI. 

ever, invariably spared. At Mayolo this kind of ant 
was very abundant, and was a cause of mucb anxiety 
to me. 

Tree Ant, — Now that I have tried to the best of 
my abihties to give an account of what I call the 
mushroom-building white ant, I will speak of another 
species which lives in the forest, and which is often a 
near neighbour oi the other. In the forest there is 
a species which makes its hives or nests between the 
ribs of the trunks of trees. The nests are from four 
to seven feet long, and six to eight inches broad, and 
are formed externally of several slanting roofs, one 
above the other. The ants that make these struc- 
tures' have long black bodies and white heads, and 
are unlike the mushroom-building ants. 

The structure begins from the ground in a some- 
what irregular cylindrical piece of walling or build- 
ing about a foot high, but varying to as much as 
eighteen inches, and full of cells and galleries; then 
occurs the first slanting roof. The larger the struc- 
ture, the more of these slanting roof-like projections 
it possesses, and they become smaller towards the 
top, the middle roof being the broadest ; sometimes 
a few inches will separate one roof from the other ; 
the roofs communicate with each other through the 
cells by the same cylindrical piece of masonry ; the 
material of which the whole is built is very thick, 
hard, and impermeable to rain. The structure of 
this ant is not common in the • forest ; but having 
found a nest in the prairie near Mayolo, I had not to 
go far to study them. 



Chap. XI. THE TREE ANT. 221 

I frequently broke open portions of this singular 
structure, and tried to observe the movements of the 
inhabitants in the interior of their dark chambers. 
As in the mushroom hives of the prairie, I found 
numbers of little pale young ants in the cells ; there 
were also a few head men or chiefs, soldiers, and 
workers, the soldiers doing no work, whilst the 
workers were full of activity; the immature indivi- 
duals moved but slowly, and seemed very delicate ; 
the very young ones did not move at all. Whenever 
I broke into the cells, the first care of the adults was 
always to place the young progeny out of danger; 
this they did by taking them up in their mouths and 
carrying them into the inner chambers. Those, how- 
ever, who could walk unaided were driven in. As 
soon as the young ones had been taken into the cells, 
the soldiers came to the apertures of all the cells that 
had been broken, to defend the breach from any 
enemies that might come : and then the workers 
began to work with great rapidity. In breaking 
the structure I killed a few of the young ones — the 
adults came to them, and seeing them dead, left them 
on the field. 

I observed the soldiers engaged in an occupation 
which was at first incomprehensible to me, but I after- 
wards came to the conclusion that it was the act of 
tracing with their mouths the outline of the work of 
closing up the cells, which was to be completed by 
their fellow ants the workers. The soldiers came and 
stood at the opening of every broken cell in a row, 
quiet for a little while, then they disappeared. By 
the movement of their heads I thought they might be 



222 ANTS. Chap. XL 

taking some earth away, but I was not able to see 
this with my magnifying glass. I thought also that 
they might be throwing some moisture in order to 
dampen the soil where the walls were to be built, 
there again my magnifying glass failed me. The 
worker ants would then come in and apply their 
mouths intently to the bottom of the cells in the 
places where the mud had been ejected by the others, 
and this was done so frequently that it appeared a 
regular occurrence. It was interesting to watch the 
regularity with which the ants worked, in compact 
rows, side by side, until the chambers were covered 
in. Before building, they carried away the little 
pieces of clay which had been broken off, and which 
were in their way. The material they used for 
building seemed to me almost the same as that of the 
mushroom-building ants. After having disposed of 
their loads, the ants disappeared, and others took 
their places ; what I wanted to find out was whether 
the same ants came again, but, as in the case of the 
mushroom-building ants, I was not able to settle this 
point. The head men were far less numerous in pro- 
portion to the total population of the community 
than in the mushroom hives. The ants of this 
species only once rebuilt their hive in its original 
shape, after I had broken it. When I again de- 
stroyed part of it they only closed the open cells. 

In this kind of building the slanting roof pre- 
vented the rain from getting in ; but in the mush- 
room hives, if the damage had not been entirely 
repaired, the rain would have penetrated the struc- 
ture. 



Chap. XL THE BAEK ANT. 223 

Bark Ant. — ^ An other much smaller species of white 
ant is found under pieces of loose dry bark on the 
forest trees, on which they feed. The colonies were 
composed of a very scanty number of individuals, 
and the ants were so small and obscure that it was 
not easy to detect them. They always choose trees 
that are old and have these scales of loose bark on 
their trunks from place to place. It is under these 
small patches or scales that the ants live. They feed 
on the wood, and build covered 'ways, or rather 
tunnels, wdiich start from the ground and communi- 
cate to the different places where the colony has 
scattered itself. Now and then, scraping under the 
bark^ I found that the settlement had moved some- 
where else as soon as they had come to the green of 
the tree. The material which this ant uses to build 
its tunnels is not earth, but wood-dust. This proves 
clearly that these white ants, with, perhaps, the ex- 
ception of one species, build their nests of the same 
material as they eat, but not till after it has passed 
through their stomachs, and received an admixture 
of glutinous fluid. The quantity thrown by this 
little species was so minute that I could hardly have 
seen it with the naked eye. They w^orked exactly 
like the others I have just described. I was unable 
to recognise the three distinct classes of individuals. 
There seemed to be only two sets — soldiers and 
workers. They worked very slowly when joining 
the broken portions of the tunnels I had demolished. 
This was accounted for by the extreme smallness of 
the particles of material ejected by them, and also by 
the fact that, in consequence of the tunnel being 



224: ANTS. Chap. XI. 

very narrow, only one or two ants could work at tlie 
same time. 

Forest Termes. — Now I come to another species of 
white ants much larger than those I have described 
before, and building far larger structures. 

The shelters of this ant are found in the forest, and 
are rather uncommon ; they are always found single, 
their light yellow colour makes them quite con- 
spicuous in the midst of the dark foliage by which 
they are surrounded ; this yellow colour comes from 
the soil which the ants use in building, and which 
they get from below the black loam. 

The height of the structure I examined was four 
feet and a half, and the diameter at the broadest 
part two feet and a half; after breaking one sinuo- 
sity I found the cells to be about one inch and a 
half in length and about half an inch in height, 
each cell corresponding with the others by corridors 
or round tunnels varying from half an inch to one 
inch in length, and about a quarter of an inch in 
diameter. 

In demolishing the sides, I found that the thickness 
of the wall was only one inch before the cells were 
found ; but I found the earth at the top much harder 
than on the sides, as though the builders had put a 
much larger quantity of glutinous matter in this 
part of the structure. 

After demolishing three inches of this yellow top 
of the nest I came suddenly to another layer, half an 
inch thick, full of little holes or cells, so small that 
they had no doubt been built on purpose for the ants 




XEST OF FOREST ANTS. 



! 



Chap. XI. FOKEST TEEMES. 225 

to remain there alone, but for what reason they re- 
quired to remain alone I was unable to discover ; 
at that time there were no ants there. 

Then with the axe I gave a powerful blow, and 
demolished another part of the structure, which dis- 
turbed the ants from their dark chambers. I saw 
there the three different classes of ants : the head 
men, very large, with whitish body and black head 
(these were but few in number) ; the workers, with 
short and thick body and broad head, but not so 
large as the chiefs ; and, thirdly, the soldiers, not 
so large as the workers, more slender, and possessing 
longer nippers. These three distinct classes were the 
inhabitants of this curious structure. 

As I was lookmg at these ants, my attention was 
suddenly called to watch their movements. The sol- 
diers came and, ranging themselves round the broken 
cells^ took their stand and remained immovable. 
Then the workers came ; each carried between its 
pinchers a small particle of yellow clay, which some 
of them collected from the broken pieces, and which 
stood in my sight, while others came with their loads 
from the cells ; there were sometimes two or three 
busy together at the same time and in the same cells. 
Each ant came and put down its particle of wet clay 
with the utmost precision, and then with its head 
moved it right and left, and by so doing succeeded 
in making the bits stick together, and so finished the 
wall. Each bit was put by the side of the one left 
by the previous worker, who had gone to fetch more, 
for here I saw the same ant go and fetch fresh pieces 
of the same clay, which came from the structure I 



226 ANTS. Chap. XL 

had broken. I observed that they never went out- 
side the cells to get their materials. No masons 
coTild have worked more systematically. 

But how could the clay which I saw them take dry 
become suddenly wet ? I took a small reed and ad- 
vanced it quietly towards some ; they made a spring 
at it (for these ants' bites are far worse than the others) 
and seized it with their nippers, and then threw upon 
it a little whitish thickish matter, the same stuff that 
made the clay wet and ready for building purposes. 
During the working time not one of the largest 
class was in sight. The soldiers kept watch, and 
it was only just before the wall was closed that they 
retired. 

As in the other species, only a single class out of 
the three worked. This ant is not the Termes belli- 
cosus of Smeathman ; which erects far larger build- 
ings, and is rather well known on the coast of 
Africa. It has been described by several travellers ; 
but I have never met with a single specimen. M. 
Serval, in his ' Exploration of the Ogobai,' mentions 
having seen an ant-hive four metres high. This 
would correspond with the height of the sheltered 
hives built by the Termes bellicosus. In them 
Smeathman found only labourers and soldiers — 
fighting ants, as he calls them. Smeathman gives 
a most graphic and interesting account of this 
species. From his account it would appear that the 
Termes bellicosus builds the sheltered hives in the 
same way as the forest ants do. Professor Owen 
kindly lent me Smeathman's paper, which was 
published in 1781. 



Chap. XL THE MOGOKORA ANT. 227 

I have never been able to find a single winged 
specimen of any white ants whatever, but I found 
un winged queens in the mushroom hives. 

The Mogdhora Ant, — Often, while I was walking in 
the Otando prairie, another ant attracted my attention ; 
it was called by the natives Mogokora ; it is a ground 
ant. Many hours I have spent in studying its habits. 
These ants are of a black colour ; many of them are an 
inch in length, and they are the largest species of ants 
I met with. They possess long and powerful nippers, 
and, when once they have seized an insect, they never 
relinquish their hold ; and they have often to struggle 
very hard before overpowering their victim. Con- 
sidering the large size of the insects which I have 
seen them master, I judge that their strength must be 
enormous. They wander solitarily over the prairie, 
and it was only after the grass had been burnt, that 
I could study them thoroughly. They seem to scour 
it in search of prey; insects and caterpillars being 
their food. They inhabit holes or subterranean cham- 
bers, and seem never to move very far from their 
abodes ; as soon as they have captured an insect 
they make for their galleries, and enter them with 
their victim, which they devour at leisure, I never 
saw them eat their prey out of their dens. These 
holes or subterranean chambers are scattered over 
the prairie, and each ant seems to know the one 
that belongs to it. When they find an individual of 
their own species dead, they carry it off to their den. 

These dens are found almost always on the decli- 
vity of hills, so that the water may not enter them 



228 ANTS. Chap. XI. 

SO easily when it rains ; in despite of this, many are 
found drowned after a heavy storm, so that the spe- 
cies is not very abundant; besides, the burning of 
the prairie must also destroy many. Their bite is 
very painful, and is felt for a long time afterwards. 
When trodden upon they emit a strong smell. I 
have never been able to find out the nest of these 
ants, and have never seen a winged one. 

The Ozlioni Ant, — This is a much smaller species 
than the Mogokora ; it is found in the prairie and on 
the borders of the forest. Like the former it is 
essentially a ground ant. It seems more voracious 
than its powerful neighbour, for they capture their 
own species alive and devour them. I have often 
assisted at these fights. The attacking party is sure 
always to be larger than the attacked, which, though 
much weaker, offers great resistance, knowing what 
will be its fate if it cannot escape. The ants wrestled 
together, and sometimes the attacked succeeded in 
escaping, but generally they are recaptured. 

If one of the ants is not strong enough to over- 
power its victim or drag it along, then two or three 
will unite to help it. 

The sting of this species reminded me almost of 
the stiug of a bee;> and I have myself suffered in- 
tensely from it — once for more than two hours, in 
despite of the ammonia which I applied to the sting. 

The Stingin'g Black Ant, — I have only noticed this 
species in the Otando country ; it is very scarce and 
only found in the forest, climbing along trunks of 



Chap. XI. THE STINGING BLACK ANT. 229 

trees. These ants are almost as large as the Mogo- 
kora, and they are also of a dark black colour, and 
shaped more like a bee than any other ant I haye 
seen. Their sting is qnite of the size of that of a 
bee, they are very quick in their motions, and are 
very difficult to capture if they have once been 
missed. Their sting is- the most painful I ever felt 
but happily the pain does not last long. 



CHAPTER XIL 
mIyolo to apono-land. 

Leave Mayolo — Cross the Nomba Obana Hill — Elver Dooya — Arrival at 
Mouendi — Timidity of the Inhabitants — The Chief Nohiengain — Arrival 
of Apingi Men — Loss and Eecovery of a Thermometer — Nocturnal 
Eefiections — African Story of the Sun and Moon — Smelling the White 
Man's Presents — Passage of the Ngouyai — Hippopotami and Crocodiles ; 
seasons of their scarcity and abundance — Arrival at Dilolo — Opposition 
of the Inhabitants to our entering the Village — Pluck of my Commi 
Boys — Arrival at Mokaba — My system of a Medicine Parade for my 
Men. 

Our preparations being finished, we left Mayolo on 
the 30th of May, at half-past eight in the morning. 
The good chief accompanied us, and our party con- 
sisted of about thirty men, including twenty porters, 
all heavily laden with my baggage. My own load 
was, besides a double-barrelled gun and two revol- 
vers, fifty ball cartridges, thirty bullets, six pounds 
of shot, and a quantity of powder and caps ; alto- 
gether about forty pounds weight. 

The whole of the villagers came to bid me good- 
bye — the women were especially demonstrative in 
their adieux. I gave them a parting present of 
beads. As we left the village, they all shouted, 
" The Oguizi is going ! the Oguizi is going ! we shall 
never see him more ! " It was with a heavy heart 
that I bade adieu to these good-natured people. 

For three hours we followed a course nearly due 



Chap. XII. EIYER DOOYA. 231 

east over tlie open grass-land of Otando. About 
seven miles from Mayolo we ascended a high hill, 
part of an elevated ridge, called Nomba Obana ; from 
its summit a beautiful view is obtained towards the 
west, as far as the dividing range between Otando 
and Ashira ; on the eastern side an equally exten- 
sive prospect opens out towards the higher ranges, 
amongst which dwell the Ishogo, the Ashango, and 
other tribes ; but directly east there was a gap in 
the range, for north and south the mountains were 
higher. The continuous forest which clothed the 
hills, green on the nearer ranges and shading off to 
misty blue on the distant ones, gave an air of solitude 
to the scene. The eastern slope of Nomba Obana 
was precipitous, and red sandstone rocks lay about in 
wild confusion. 

In the valley were the ruins of a village that had 
been abandoned by Mayolo. This was the second 
village he had abandoned within less than two years. 
If any one dies, Mayolo immediately moves off, say- 
ing^ that the place is bewitched. 

About three miles east of Nomba Obana we crossed 
a small river called Dooya. It was fordable at this 
season, but during the rains it must be a considerable 
stream. Marching onwards, always in an easterly 
direction, we arrived, at half-past four, at the vil- 
lage of the Apono chief Nchiengain, which is called 
Mouendi. The territory of the Apono tribe lies chiefly 
to the south-east of this place. 

We halted before entering the village, at the re- 
quest of Mayolo, to arrange the order of going in, for 
it was necessary to avoid anything that might give 



232 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

alarm to tlie timid savages, wlio had never before 
received a similar visitor. The passage of inhabited 
places would henceforward be the most difficult part 
of our journey ; as long as we had nothing but 
forests, rivers, and mountains to traverse, provided 
we could get plenty of food, all would go well ; but to 
contend with the superstitious fears, restless curiosity, 
and greedy avarice of the chiefs and villagers was a 
serious matter. It was settled that Mayolo, who w^as 
the friend and nkaga (born the same day) of Ncliien- 
gain, should go first, and that the .rest should follow 
at intervals one by one. We marched towards the 
entrance of the village in dead silence. 

As we approached, the people who first caught 
sight of us, began to flee. The women cried out as 
they ran with their babes in their arms, '' The Oguizi ! 
(Spirit) the Oguizi ! He has come and we shall 
die ! " They wept and shrieked ; . I heard their cries 
with dismay, but did not know till afterwards that 
the small-pox had already swept through this village. 

When we reached the middle of the village, there 
was not a soul remaining except Nchiengain himself 
and two men, who stood with fear depicted in their 
countenances near the ouandja (a kind of house open 
in front) of the chief. Nchiengain, however, had 
given his consent to our coming, and seemed to have 
inwardly resolved to brave it out. He had fortified 
himself against evil by besmearing his body with 
great streaks of the alumbi chalk, and hanging all 
his fetiches around him. 

The persuasive tongue of Mayolo soon calmed his 
fears. He gathered courage to look' me steadily in 



Chap. XII. CHIEF NCHIENGAIK 233 

the face. I tlien addressed him in the Ashira lan- 
guage, and recounted the treasures in beads, caps for 
the head, coats, and cotton prints that I had brought 
for him ; finally he began to smile and took my 
proffered hand. Beads were promised to the women, 
and gr-adually the people came back to their houses. 
Mayolo finished up with a lengthy speech in the 
African manner, proving to him that I did not bring 
the plague. Towards evening I went round the 
village, looked into the huts, laughed with the people, 
and distributed beads. Good humour was restored, 
and the remark became general that the Oguizi was 
a good Spirit after all. 

I took meridian altitudes of Arcturus and a Crucis 
before retiring to bed, although exceedingly fatigued 
after our long march and the great load I had carried. 
I found, by these observations, that my course had 
been due east. 

Slst May, Nchiengain is a tall, slender old negro, 

with a mild and timid expression of features. He is 

the leading chief of the Apono tribe in these parts ; 

but his clan is now, I hear, almost extinguished. His 

village is one of the finest and cleanest I have yet 

seen, the houses being neat, built chiefly of bamboo, or 

strips of the leaf-stalks of palm-trees, and arranged in 

symmetrical lines. I have measured the street, and 

find it to be 447 yards long and 18 broad. The houses 

are small and quite separate from one another ; the 

height of the roof is about seven feet; and each 

house has its little verandah in front, under which 

the inhabitants take their meals and sit to smoke 

and chat. The soil on which the village stands is 
17 



234 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

clayey. I notice that many of the men have their 
two middle upper incisor teeth pulled out, and the 
two next to them filed to a point. Some of the 
Vomen beautify themselves in a similar way ; they 
also endeavour to improve their looks by tattooing 
themselves in long scars on their foreheads, between 
their eyebrows, and on their cheeks in a line with 
the middle of the ear. 

The people of Nchiengain's village are all Bam- 
bais or Bambas — that is, the children of slaves, 
born in the country. The women are the prettiest 
I have seen in Africa ; and many of them had 
very small feet and hands, which I have remarked 
is the case with many of the negroes of Equatorial 
Africa. 

Although the chief seems to be of a good disposition, 
I found him no better inclined to forward my journey 
than any of the others I had had dealings with. 
Like the Olenda people, he wanted the chief who 
had brought me to his place to leave me in his 
hands ; this being the first step necessary to enable 
the rapacious negroes to get all they could out 
of me at their leisure. Mayolo was firm in his 
demand to have me forwarded across the Eembo 
in two days, and I supported his arguments by 
feigning anger at the chief's proposal, and refusing 
to eat the presents of food he had made me. Our 
palavers lasted all this day and the next. I gave him 
a quantity of goods, but, as was to be expected, he 
expressed his dissatisfaction, with a view to get more 
out of me. I left Mayolo with him, and by some 
means or other he persuaded him to be contented. 



Chap. XII. AKEIYAL OF APINGI MEN. 235 

What could I do with a man who believed that I 
made all these things myself, by some conjuring 
process ? for it is thus that Nchiengain argued with 
Mayolo : " The cloth and beads and guns cost him no 
trouble to make ; why does he not give me more of 
these things which do me so much good ? " " Mayolo," 
he would continue in course of his many palavers with 
him, " you eat me with jealousy. Why do you want 
yourself to take the Oguizi to the Ashango country ? 
why not go back and leave him to me ? I want it to 
go far and wide that the Oguizi and Nchiengain are 
big friends." At length he offered himself to accom- 
pany me across the Rembo, and to give me some 
porters, for our loads were too heavy for our present 
numbers. It was the passage of this river (the upper 
Ngouyai) that offered our next difficulty ; it was too 
wide and deep to ford or swim across, and we needed 
a good canoe to ferry the party over. 

June 1st. A number of Apingi men came up the 
river- to-day from their villages, which are situated 
a few miles lower down, on the river banks, to- 
wards the north or north-west, but belonging to 
a different clan from Remandji's, which I visited 
in my former journey. They fraternised with the 
Apono, and we had great noise, tam-tamming, and 
confusion. They brought about 100 bunches of 
plantains for sale, which my men purchased. I find 
the Apingi are generally lighter and redder in colour 
than the Apono, and they are not so well-made a 
people or so handsome (or less ugly) in features. But 
there are no sharp lines of distinction between these 
African tribes. They intermarry a good deal with 



236 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

each other, and, besides, the chiefs have children with 
their slaves who are brought from various tribes, far 
and near. The Apingi were not so mnch accustomed 
to me as the Apono were, and whenever they caught 
sight of me they fled. The noise made by these 
fellows was quite unbearable. 

I took a walk into the neighbouring woods ; and 
on my return, going to look at the thermometer hung 
under the verandah of my hut, I found it had been 
stolen. This was too much to be borne, as it was the 
only thermometer remaining to me after the plun- 
dering of the Ashira. I felt that I must use energetic 
measures to recover the instrument, so I seized two men 
who were running away from the heap of plantains 
in front of my hut, and calling on my Commi boys to 
cock their guns, I sent for Nchiengain and said that 
I would shoot a man if the instrument was not re- 
turned to me. Nchiengain and the Apono declared 
that the Apingi were the thieves. Two chiefs who 
were with the Apingi protested that the theft was 
committed by none of their men, that they did not 
come to steal, &c., &c. My strong measures, how- 
ever, had the desired effect ; the thermometer, for- 
tunately unbroken, was found shortly after lying on 
the ground near a neighbouring hut. Many of the 
Apingi were armed with spears, but they are not so 
warlike as the Apono. They are more accustomed 
to the water, and build large canoes, which they sell 
to the Apono. 

June 1st. I paid the new Apono porters to-day. 
We were obliged to have seven more men than 
before, as the loads were so heavy that the former 



Chap. Xn. NOCTUBNAL KEFLECTIONS. 237 

number was insufficient, and three of my people had 
the skin worn off their backs on the march from 
Mayolo. To-night the air was colder than I ever 
recollect to have found it in Western Africa. The 
sky was cloudless but hazy — as, indeed, it often is 
in the interior, in the clearest weather during the 
dry season — a reddish halo surrounded the moon. I 
sat up as usual to take lunar distances and altitudes 
of stars. Indeed, I seldom retire before one a.m., 
and enjoy the silent nights, when the hubbub and 
torment of a crowd of whimsical, restless savages 
are stilled by sleep. I sometimes stretched myself on 
the ground after the work was done, and enjoyed 
the contemplation of the starry heavens, thinking of 
the far-off northern land, lying under constellations 
so different from these of the southern hemisphere. 
My thoughts would wander to my distant friends 
in Europe and North America, and my eyes would 
fill with tears when I dwelt on the many acts of 
kindness I had received from them. Did they now 
think of the poor lonely traveller working out his 
mission amidst savages in the heart of Africa ! 

I was not always so solitary in taking my nightly 
observations, for sometimes one or other of my men 
or Mayolo would stand by me. Of course I could 
never make them comprehend what I was doing. 
Sometimes I used to be amused by their ideas about 
the heavenly bodies. Like all other remarkable 
natural objects, they are the subjects of whimsical 
myths amongst them. According to them, the sun 
and moon are of the same age, but the sun brings 
daylight and gladness and the moon brings darkness, 



238 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

witchcraft and deatli — for death comes from sleep, and 
sleep commences in darkness. The sun and moon, 
they say, once got angry with each other, each one 
claiming to be the eldest. The moon said : " Who 
are yon, to dare to speak to m.e ? you are alone, you 
have no people ; what, are you to consider yourself 
equal to me ? Look at me," she continued, showing 
the stars shining around her, '^ these are my people ; 
I am not alone in the world like you." The sun 
answered, " Oh, moon, you bring witchcraft, and it is 
you who have killed all my people, or I should have 
as many attendants as you." According to the ne- 
groes, people are more liable to die when the moon 
first makes her appearance and when she is last 
visible. They say that she calls the people her in- 
sects, and devours them. The moon with them is the 
emblem of time and of death. 

I was much amused to-day. Some of the inha- 
bitants of a neighbouring Apono village, who had 
been most hostile to my coming to their country, 
having since heard that I had brought no evil or 
sickness with me here, now came to see me. As soon 
as my friend Nchiengain saw them, he went up to 
them in great anger, crying out, " Go away, go 
away ! Now that you have smelt niva (my goods 
or presents), you are no longer afraid, but want to 
come ! " So the men went away without my speaking 
to them. 

June 2nd, Towards evening both Nchiengain and 
Mayolo got drunk with palm wine, and their ardour 
to go forward with me was something astonishing. 
They say they are going with me far beyond the 



Chap. XII. AN APONO IDOL. 239 

Ashango ; they are men ; thej will even travel by 
night, as there will be the moon with ns. .^^ 

I wanted to obtain one of the idols of the Apono, 
so to-day, on asking Nchiengain, he took me out of 
the village along a path which led to a grove of 
trees, and thence he sent his head wife to a mbuiri 
honse to fetch an idol. When it came, I found it so 
large (it was, in fact, a load for one man) and so 
disgustingly indecent, that I was obliged to refuse it. 
I felt that if I accepted it I should be like the worthy 
mayor in the well-known story, who received the 
present of a white elephant. Like other idols which 
I had seen, it was a female. 

The villagers have the largest ngoma, or tam-tam, 
I have ever seen. It measures very nearly nine feet 
in length, and the hollowing of the log must have 
cost the Apono a great deal of labour. Many of the 
people are drunk to-night, following the example of 
the two chiefs. I had always heard from the slaves 
near the coast that the Apono were a merry race, 
and I now find it so with a vengeance. Since my 
arrival here there has been nothing but dancing and 
singing every night. I distributed beads among the 
women, and this has had a great effect. So we are 
all good friends together. ^^ 

June 3rd, We left Mouendi with a great deal of 
trouble this morning. Nchiengain and Mayolo 
wanted to renew the libations of the previous even- 
ing, and, in fact, were half-drunk soon after daylight ; 
but I went to the hut where the symposium was 
going on, and, kicking over the calabashes of palm 
wine, sent the chiefs and their attendants to the 



240 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XH. 

right-about. I could not, however; get Nchiengain 
away, and we started without him. I wondered 
afterwards at the good-nature of these people, who 
saw with composure ^a stranger knocking over so 
large a quantity of their cherished beverage. They 
did not resent my act, but only grumbled that so 
much good liquor was spilt instead of going down 
their throats. 

We reached the banks of the river, distant about 
three miles from the village, at two p.m. The 
Ngouyai was here a fine stream, nearly as wide as 
the Thames at London Bridge, and from ten to fifteen 
feet deep, flowing from the S.S.W. 

It was now the dry season, when the water is 
about ten feet below the level of the rainy season. 
The yellow waters formed a curious contrast to the 
dark green vegetation of its banks. I could not but 
admire the magnificent trees which towered above 
the masses of lower trees and bushes growing from 
the rich soil ; some of them grew on the very brink 
of the stream, and their trunks were supported by 
erect roots, looking like May-poles, eight or ten feet 
high, and projecting in places over the water. Open- 
ings in the wall of foliage revealed to us the interior 
of the jungle, where the trees were interlaced with 
creepers of all kinds, especially the india-rubber vine, 
which is here very abundant. 

I was surprised to find Nchiengain's flat-bottomed 
canoe, or ferry-boat, large and well-made. It carried 
my pgcrty and baggage across in seven journeys. 
We finished at half-past four p.m., and encamped 
for the night on the opposite side. Nchiengain 



Chap. XII. HIPPOPOTAMI AND CEOCODILES. 241 

arrived at the river-side, reeling drunk, just as we 
were shovins; off with the last load, and I told the 
men to pretend not to hear his shouts for the return 
of the canoe to embark him, so he had to come over 
alone when we had all landed on the other side. 

I was struck with the scarcity of animal life on and 
near the river. But the rich and open valley through 
which it flows must teem with Natural History wealth 
in its varied woods ; we could not expect to see 
much amid the noise of our crossing, and in the short 
time we remained in the district. There were no 
aquatic birds in sight, not even pelicans. The water 
was too deep and there were too few sand and mud 
banks for hippopotami; for I have always noticed 
that these animals are found only in rivers which 
abound in shallows. If the rivers have shallows in 
the dry season only, then hippopotami are to be seen 
there only in the dry season. It is the same with 
crocodiles. In the seasons of flood one may travel 
for weeks without seeing a single individual of either 
species in rivers and lakes which nevertheless swarm 
with them in the dry season. Thus it is with the 
lake Anengue of the Ogobai, which I described in 
my former work as full of crocodiles, although when 
Messrs. Serval and Griffon Du Bellay visited it, after 
me, in 1862, they were unable to see any of these 
reptiles. Indeed, I myself found none on my first 
visit to the lake, as related in ' Adventures in Equa- 
torial Africa ; ' on my second visit I was surprised to 
find them so abundant. Even a month or a fort- 
night makes a great difference, and one wonders 
where all the crocodiles come from. It is well known 



242 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

to travellers tliat fislies are very scarce in seasons of 
flood, and abundant in the dry season, in the same 
rivers. The scarcity and abundance, of course, are 
only apparent ; the total population of the water 
must remain pretty nearly the same all the year 
round, but we are apt to lose sight of the fact that 
the area of the waters of any river with many arms 
and lakes must be immensely greater in the flood 
season than in the dry, and thus the population is 
more scattered and hidden from view. 

4.th We left the banks of the river at a quarter- 
past six a.m. Shortly afterwards we passed through 
an Apono village, and at half-past eight a.m. came to 
three Ishogo villages close together. All three pro- 
bably belonged to the same clan, and they contained 
a considerable population. It was no new feature to 
find a settlement of a tribe living in the middle of a 
district belonging to another tribe. The Ishogos 
had been driven by war from their own territory, 
and have thus intruded on unoccupied lands within 
the territory of their neighbours. 

The Ishogos of these villages knew that I was to 
pass through the places. They had heard of the 
untold wealth I brought with me, and were annoyed 
when they perceived my intention to pass on without 
stopping. The villages are built in an open grassy 
space ; and as soon as the caravan came in sight the 
excitement was intense. Women, children, and 
armed men came around, shouting and entreating ; 
some running along the line of march, with goats in 
tow, offering them as presents if I would stay with 
them, even if it was only for a night. It is the 



Chap. XII. ISHOGO VILLAGES. ' 243 

custom in all these villages to offer a present of food 
to a stranger if the inhabitants wish him to stay with 
them; and the acceptance of the present by the 
stranger is a token of his intention to remain in the 
place for a time. They offered also ivory, and slaves, 
and the more I refused the offers, the more pertina- 
cious they became. Their sole wish, of course, in 
asking me to stay, was to get as much as they could 
of the coveted goods I brought with me. It was 
droll to see, when I stopped in my walk, how they 
fled in alarm to a distance, and then stood still to 
gaze at me. Two of the chiefs followed us for 
miles, with their proffered present of a goat each 
trotting along by their sides. They finally gave in 
and went back, saying to Mayolo and Nchiengain 
that it was their fault that I did not stop. Our 
Apono comjDanions mourned over the goats that I 
might have had : they thought only of their share of 
the meat, as the animals, when killed, would have 
been cut up and distributed amongst them. 

About mid-day we halted in a beautiful wooded 
hollow, through which ran a picturesque rivulet. 
There we stopped about an hour and breakfasted. 
The direct easterly path from here led to a number 
of Apono villages ; these we wished to avoid in 
order to escape a similar annoyance to that which we 
had undergone in the morning from the Ishogos, and 
so struck a little more southerly, or S.S.E. by compass. 
Our road lay for three hours over undulating prairie 
land, with occasional woods ; one of the open sj^aces 
was a prairie called Matimbie irimba (the prairie of 
stones) stretching S.E. and N.W. 



244 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XIL 

At tlie S.E. end of tlie prairie we came to a village 
called Dilolo. Our reception liere was anything but 
friendly. We found the entrance to the one street of 
the village barricaded and guarded by all the fighting 
men, armed with spears, bows and arrows, and sabres. 
When within earshot, they vented bitter curses 
against Nchiengain for wanting to bring the Oguizi, 
who carries with him the eviva (plague), into their 
village, and prohibited us from entering if we did 
not want war. The war drums beat, and the men 
advanced and retired before us, spear in hand. We 
marched forward nevertheless, and the determined 
fellows then set fire to the grass of the open space 
leading to the village barricade. Wishing to avoid 
an encounter, and also the fire which was spread- 
ing at a great rate over the prairie, we turned by 
a path leading round the village ; but when we had 
reached the rear of th6 place, we found a body of 
the villagers moving in the same direction, to stop 
our further progress. Most of them appeared half- 
intoxicated with palm wine, and I now felt that we 
were going to have a fight. Presently two poisoned 
arrows were shot at us, but they fell short. Nchien- 
gain then came up and walked between my men and 
the irritated warriors, begging me not to fire unless 
some of us were hit. The villagers, seeing that we 
made no display of force, became bolder, and one of 
them came right up and with his bow bent threat- 
ened to shoot Rapelina. My plucky lad faced the 
fellow boldly, and, showing him the muzzle of his 
gun, told him he would be a dead man if he did not 
instantly put down his bow. All my Commi boys 



Chap. XII. PLUCK OF MY COMMl BOYS. 245 

came up, and ranging themselves on the flanks of 
our caravan with their guns pointed at the enemy, 
protected the train of porters as they filed past. I 
was glad to see also our Apono companions taking 
our part ; they got enraged with the villagers, and 
some of them laid down their loads, and rushed to the 
front waving their swords. Strange to say, not one 
of the villagers came near me, or threatened me in 
any way. I watched the scene calmly, and surveyed 
the field where war might at any moment break out. 
Behind us the country was all in a blaze, for the fire 
had spread with great rapidity. The Apono porters 
being so resolutely on our side, I had no fear as to how 
the conflict would end. If we had been travelling 
alone, without guides and porters, we should have 
had a serious fight, and it is probable my journey 
would have come to a termination here in a similar 
way to that which afterwards happened in Ashango- 
land ; but it is a point of honour with these primitive 
Africans that they are bound to defend the strangers 
whom they have undertaken to convey from one 
tribe to another. Had I not been deserted by my 
guides in the village where I was finally driven 
back, as will be hereafter narrated, I should have 
been enabled to continue my journey. We went on 
our way, Nchiengain shouting from the rear to the 
discomfited warriors that there would be a palaver 
to settle for this, when he came back. 

I was prouder then ever of my boys after this, and 
profited by the occasion to strengthen them in their 
determination to go forward. There was no going 
back after this, I told them ; they all shouted, " We 



246 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

must go forward ; we are going to tlie white man's 
country ; we are going to London ! " 

We continued our marcli till half-past four p.m., 
when we encamped for the night in the middle of a 
wood, where there was a cool spring of water, close to 
a cluster of Apono villages. It appeared that these 
people also dreaded our approach on account of the 
eviva. In the evening we heard the cries of the 
people, the weeping of the women, and the beating 
of the war drums. The burthen of their lamentations 
was " Nchiengain, why have you brought this curse 
upon us ? We do not want the Oguizi, who brings 
the plague with him. The Ishogo are all dead, the 
Ashango have left ; it is of no use your taking the 
white man to them ; go back, go back ! " We slept 
with our loaded guns by our side ; the war drums 
ceased beating about 10 o'clock. My men were tired 
and foot-sore, on account of the sharp stones and 
pebbles of the prairie paths. 

June bth. At daylight this morning I got up and 
looked out over the broad prairie, quite expecting 
to see a war-party watching us through the long 
grass ; but to my agreeable surprise, I saw no signs of 
war. Shortly afterwards a deputation of three men 
came from the village to try to persuade Nchiengain 
not to pass through, on account of my bringing death 
wherever I went. But the trusty and sensible old 
chief, in a long speech, showed them that it was a 
foolish alarm about my bringing the eviva^ and that 
the plague came quite independent of me, for it had 
passed through his village long before the Oguizi 
had come near it. The argument seemed to have a 



Chap. XII. ASSEMBLY OF APONOS. 247 

good effect ; they retired, and shortly afterwards both 
Nchiengain and Mayolo were sent for to the village ; 
this was followed by a messenger arriving for me. 

When I came into the open space chosen for the 
meeting, at some distance from the village, I was not 
a little surprised to see about 200 of the villagers 
assembled, all gravely seated on the grass, in a gronp 
of a semi- circular form. As I advanced towards them, 
I was amused to see the front row getting uneasy 
and wriggling off into the rear, followed by the next 
row, and so on. They put me in mind of a flock of 
sheep or a herd of deer in a park, when confronted 
by a man walking slowly up to them. Nchiengain, 
who appeared to have great influence here, and to be 
acknowledged as a superior chief among the Aponos, 
succeeded at last in arresting their laughable rear 
movement. He then addressed me, saying that he 
had sent for me to tell me that the villagers wished 
me to leave the wood in which I was encamped, and 
to move to the top of a grassy hill a little further off. 
If I did that all the people would come and see me, 
and bring me food, and on the following day would 
be willing that I should continue my journey. 

I declined this proposal, as the top of the hill was 
too much exposed to the heat of the sun, and I pre- 
ferred the cool shade of the wood. They finally let 
me have my own way, and my encampment for several 
hours afterwards was thronged with people. They 
all said that the report of my bringing the eviva had 
been spread abroad amongst the tribes for a long 
distance in the interior by the Ashira people. 

Late in the afternoon, three head men of neigh- 



248 MAYOLO TO APONO-LAND. Chap. XII. 

boiiring villages came to invite us to their respective 
villages. One of tlie elders was from a large place 
not far distant, called Mokaba, and Mayolo recom- 
mended me to go to this village in preference to 
the others, because its representative had offered 
us the greatest number of goats, namely, three. 
When I gave my decision, the other two chiefs were 
greatly annoyed, and we were very near having a 
serious row amongst them, l^chiengain was too far 
gone in intoxication, having had a drinking bout 
with the chiefs of the village where we now were, to 
accompany us. As we moved off, the two disap- 
pointed elders followed, and continued to pester us. 
One of them had the boldness to come up to me and 
try to lead me off to his village ; it was droll to witness 
his fright when I turned sharply on him : he stepped 
backwards trembling with fear, and waved his leather 
fan before him, crying, " Oh^ don't, Oguizi ! " After 
a short march we entered the more friendly town of 
Mokaba, amidst the shouts of the whole population. 
I was alarmed at night in finding Mayolo very 
feverish and unwell. I had noticed the first symp- 
toms when at Mouendi. 

I am happy to say that my own men now enjoy 
much better health than they did at the commence- 
ment of our expedition; for, strange to say, these 
negroes cannot bear as much fatigue and hardship as 
I do, and generally after a long march or a hunt they 
fell ill. But I could never make them come and tell 
me as soon as they felt the first symptoms of being un- 
well, so, at fixed periods — once a fortnight, or once a 
month, according to the season — they were summoned 



Chap. XII. THE "MEDICINE PAEADE." 249 

to my "dispensary" to be dosed all round. I had 
fixed days for the different medicines : one day was 
castor-oil day, another was blue-pill or calomel day, 
a third was the ''feast of Epsom salts." They all 
had to come up in single file, and, one after the other, 
were ordered to swallow their dose. Now and then 
one or two of them tried to escape the medicine 
parade ; and, when I called them up, each had some 
ready excuse for his non-attendance, but in vain. 
This was generally on castor-oil day, for they said 
that they did not mind the other medicines, but that 
this was " so bad ; " and many were the wry faces 
that were made before the dose was swallowed by 
the entire company. However, I found that my 
plan had very good results, as my men had much 
better health than they had before I adopted it. 



18 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE MARCH THEOUGH APONO-LAND. 

Mokaba — Curiosity of the People — Kenewed illness of Mayolo — His return 
to Otando — Ncliiengain's Speech — The Apono agree to take me to the 
Ishogo country — Description of the Apono Tribe — Their sprightly 
character^ — Arts- — Weapons — Population — Description of Mokaba — 
— Palm wine — Drunkenness — Ocuya Performances— Leave Mokaba — 
Eiver Dougoundo — Arrival at Igoumbie — Invitation from the elders 
of the village to remain there — Manners of the Ishogos — Description of 
Igoumbi^ — The Ishogo huts — Arrival at Yengu6, in Ishogo-land. 

June 6tL Mokaba and most of the other villages of 
the Apono tribe are situated in an open tract of undu- 
lating country, partly wooded and partly open prairie. 
The distance of the town from Mayolo is not more 
than twenty-seven miles in a direct line, and the 
altitude above the sea-level is scarcely so great as at 
that place, being only 414 feet, whilst Mayolo is 496 
feet ; but Mokaba, as I afterwards found, was within a 
short distance of the I^gouyai, and lay in the valley 
of the river, whilst Mayolo lies on the lower slope of 
the mountain range which separates Otando from 
Ashira-land. Close to the village, on its eastern side, 
are some fine wooded hills, which give the place a 
very picturesque appearance when viewed from the 
western side. The successive mountain ranges to- 
wards the east are not visible from the Apono plain, 
although they formed grand objects from the Otando 








MOKAKA. APOXO VILLAGE. 



Chap. XIII. CURIOSITY OF THE MOKABA PEOPLE. 251 

country, rising in three terrace-like ridges one behind 
the other. On the other hand, looking towards the 
west, I could see the fine hilly range bej'ond Otando, 
stretching in a semi-circle to the Ashira Kamba ter- 
ritory, and joining, on the north, the range which 
trends eastward from that point towards the Ashango 
mountains. 

The curiosity of the Mokaba people is most trou- 
blesome, so that, although the villagers have been so 
much more friendly than those we passed yesterday, 
I have not been much more comfortable. The place 
swarms with people, and I have been haunted, at my 
encampment, by numbers of sight-seers. The way 
they come upon me is sometimes quite startling ; they 
sidle up behind trees, or crawl up amongst the long 
grass until they are near enough, and then, from be- 
hind the tree trunks, or above the herbage, a number 
of soot-black faces suddenly bob out, staring at me, 
with eyes and mouth wide open. The least thing I 
do, elicits shouts of wonder ; but if I look directly at 
them they take to their legs and run as if for their 
lives. 

June 1th. I cannot describe how low-spirited I feel 
at the condition of poor Mayolo this morning. I fear 
his days are numbered. He has a burning fever, and 
was too ill to speak to me, or even to recognise me, 
when I entered his hut. The Otando men, who are 
with us, are to carry him back to his place this after- 
noon. I thought itj'ust possible that he might have 
been poisoned by some of these hostile villagers. 
But he is a hard drinker and has been intoxicated 
almost every day, so that this may have been the 



252 THE MAECH THEOUOH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 

cause of his illness. His people begin to recollect 
tliat lie was first taken ill tlie day after lie had a dis- 
pute with his children about beads ; and if he dies 
there will be a frightful witchcraft palaver in Otando. 
I shall feel his loss greatly, for, besides being a 
staunch friend, he speaks the Commi language a 
little, which I understand better than I do any other 
of these African idioms. He has been therefore a 
good guide in every way. Fortunately our long stay 
at Olenda and Mayolo has enabled me to acquire the 
Ashira language to some extent. 

Before the Otando men departed, I went and bid 
good-bye to Mayolo, but he was too ill to recognise 
me. After his departure I entreated Nchiengain to 
hurry me off as quick as he could. He said " You are 
in as great a hurry as if you had killed somebody." 
I gave to each of Mayolo's men and to his wife a 
parting present, and my Commi boys gave them 
their old garments. The Mokaba people took alarm 
at night in seeing me look at the stars with my 
instruments ; and the chief, accompanied by his 
people, came and told me they would build a shed 
for me at a distance from the houses, as they were 
afraid of the mysterious work I was doing. I firmly 
refused, saying that they had made me come to the 
house where I was staying, and that now I would 
not remove. 

June Sth — 2th. Still at Mokaba, waiting for port- 
ers. Messengers came on the 9 th for Nchiengain 
to return to his village, as one of his men had 
died ; they brought also the news that Mayolo had 
been vomiting blood. This was most distressing 



Chap. Xin. NCHIENaAIN'S SPEECH. 253 

intelligence for me. If Mayolo dies I am afraid his 
death will be imputed to me. I made presents to 
the chiefs and elders of Mokaba, to keep them in 
good humour, and gave a gun to Nchiengain. 

It is settled that nineteen Apono porters are to 
accompany me to the Ishogo country with their chief 
Kombila.* Nchiengain returns to his own place. 
Before he left me we assembled all our new men, 
and he made a speech to them whilst I distributed 
the pay. He told them how Olenda had delivered 
me to Mayolo and Mayolo to him, and that now they 
must take me safe to the Ishogo people, who would 
pass me over to the Ashango, and so on. They 
were to see that I had plenty of goats and plan- 
tains, and then if their task was well done they 
would receive their reward as he and his people had 
done. 

These speeches always have a good effect for the 
moment, the excitable negroes become enthusiastic 
about the journey, and promise even more than they 
are required to do. When Nchiengain was about to 
leave, he delivered up to me a plate and a kettle 
which he had borrowed of me when we first became 
acquainted, that he might show the people how great 

* As proper names may be of some utility in the study of tlie native 
languages, I subjoin the names of my porters : — 

Head man, Komhila. Second in command, Mhouka. 



Ipandi, 


Kassa, 


Boushoubou, 


Foubou, 


Mondjego, 


Djembe, 


Batali, 


Mombon, 


Boulingud, 


Njomba, 


Badinga, 


Nchago, 


Mozamba, 


Miyendo, 


Moueti, 


Mousoumbi, 


Mafoumbi, 


Momelou. 



254 THE MAKCH THKOUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 

a man he had become to possess such iitensils. When 
he came to borrow them, he said, " Nchiengain must 
eat off a plate, and must cook his food with the 
Oguizi's kettle; so that the people may know that 
Nchiengain is his friend." I had quite forgotten the 
loan, and felt pleased at this display of the old man's 
honesty. He gave us all his blessing as he started, 
and shouted to me, " I have done all I can for you ! 
I have not slighted you! my good wishes go with 
you." 

As I am about to leave the Apono country, I must 
say here a few words about this tribe of negroes. 
They are no doubt a branch of the great Ashira 
nation, like the Ashira Kamba, the Ashira Ngozai, 
and the Otando, all of whom, as well as the Aponos, 
speak the Ashira language. The Ashangos also 
speak the Ashira language, although they are divided 
from the Aponos by the Ishogo, who speak an 
entirely different language. But the Aponos are 
distinguished from all the other branches of the 
Ashira nation by their sprightliness of character; 
and they are clean and well-looking. Their villages 
are larger, better arranged, and prettier than those of 
the ^Otando and Ashira Ngozai. Each house is built 
separate from its neighbours, and they attend to 
cleanliness in their domestic arrangements. Their 
country is an undulating plain, varied with open 
grassy places covered with a pebbly soil, and rich 
and extensive patches of woodland well adapted for 
agriculture, in which they make their plantations. 
I cannot make an estimate of the. total population 



Chap. XIII. DESCEIPTION OF THE APONO TEIBE. 255 

of the tribe ; their villages were numerous along our 
line of march from Mouendi, but we travelled pro- 
bably through the most thickly-peopled district. 

As I have already said, the Aponos, both men and 
women, are distinguished by their habit of taking 
out the two middle upper incisors and filing the rest, 
as well as the four lower, to a point. The women 
have for ornament tattooed scars on their forehead ; 
very often these consist of nine rounded prominences 
similar in size to peas, and arranged in the form of 
a lozenge between their eye-brows, and they have 
similar raised marks on their cheeks and a few 
irregular marks on the chest and abdomen, varying 
in pattern in different individuals. They also rub 
themselves with red powder derived from the common 
bar-wood of trade. They dress their hair in many 
ways, but never form it into a high mass as the 
Ashira used formerly to do, as I have described in 
' Equatorial Africa.' The Aponos do not practise 
tattooing so much as the Apingi, who decorate their 
chests and abdomens with various kinds of raised 
patterns. I once asked an Apingi man why his 
people covered themselves with such ugly scars ; he 
replied that they were the same as clothing to 
them. " Why," retorted he, " do you cover your- 
self with so many curiotis garments ? " The Apingi 
seem to be a small tribe, and the territory they 
occupy is a narrow strip along the banks of the 
Ngouyai. They and the Ishogos speak the same 
language. 

The Aponos are a warlike people, and are rather 
looked up to with fear by the Apingi and the Ishogos, 



256 THE MAECH THKOUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 

whose villages are close to theirs. They are not such 
skilful workers in iron as the Fans, or as some other 
tribes further to the east. The iron-ore which they 
use is found plentifully in some parts of their prairies ; 
it occurs in lumps of various sizes, and is dug from 
the soil; the deeper they dig the larger and purer 
are the lumps. They melt it in little thick earthen- 
ware pots, holding about a pint each, and use, of 
course, charcoal in tempering the metal. Their 
anvils are large and well-made, but the construction 
of them is apparently beyond their ability, as all 
the anvils which I saw came from the Abombo and 
Njavi tribes, who live further towards the east. The 
Abombos and Njavis manufacture also a superior 
kind of straight sword four feet long, the handle of 
which is made of wood and is in the shape of a dice- 
box, through the middle of which the handle-end of 
the sword passes. 

The bows of the Aponos are very different from 
those of the Fans, which I described and figured in 
* Adventures in Equatorial Africa ;' they are not 
nearly so powerful, but, at the same time, not so 
clumsy ; they are of very tough wood, and bent 
nearly in a semi-circle, with the chord measuring 
about two feet, and the string of vegetable fibre. 
The arrow is rather heavy ; the head is of tempered 
iron, triangular in shape, and prolonged in a tubular 
form for the insertion of the shaft ; the shaft is not 
secured into the head, so that when the arrow enters 
into the body of a man or animal, the sharp trian- 
gular lance-head, coated with poison, remains in the 
woxmd, whilst the shaft drops out. The arrows are 



Chap. XIII. APONO WEAPONS. 257 

kept in cylindrical quivers made of the bark of a 
tree, and not in bags. 

Their spears, also, are different from those of the 
FaAs, and are similar to those described by Burton, 
Grant, Speke, and other travellers, as used by the 
tribes of Eastern Equatorial Africa.^ They are 
much heavier and clumsier than the spears of the 
Fans, and cannot, therefore, like them_, be thrown to 
a distance. The head is lance-shaped, without barbs, 
and a foot in length. In fight they are used for 
thrusting, at close quarters. Swords are the most 
common weapons with these people ; they might, 
however, be more properly termed sabres than 
swords, being curved, and having wooden handles. 
The metal of which the blades are made, although 
pretty well tempered_, by means of the charcoal used, 
is full of flaws. Some of the people use round' 
shields made of wicker-work. Each of my Apono 
porters carried a sabre, besides his bow and quiver 
of arrows. The possession of a sword is a mark of 
manhood with these people, and all the young men 
think it honourable to obtain a sword before they 
acquire a wife. In fact, the chief things coveted by 
the young dandies of the tribe are a sword, a grass- 
web cap of the country, and a handsome denguiy or 
garment of striped grass-cloth. The red worsted caps 
which I carried, as part of my stores, immediately 
drove their native caps out of fashion, and, indeed, 
created a perfect furore. It was a sure way of gain- 
ing the good will of an Apono man to present him 
with one of these caps. 

* * Adventures in Equatorial Africa,' p. 80. 



258 THE MAKCH THKOUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIIT. 

Like tlie Ashiras, the Aponos are industrious 
weavers of grass-clotli, which forms the clothing of 
both sexes. The cloth is woven in small pieces with 
a fringe, called bongos, and is sometimes beautifully 
fine ; when several bongos are sewn together, the 
garment is called a dengui ; the women wear only two 
pieces, or bongos, one on each side, secured at the top 
over the hips, and meeting in front at the upper edge. 

It might be supposed, from the frequency with 
which I met with villages on the march, that the 
Apono country was thickly inhabited, especially as 
the villages were large, a few of them containing 
about a thousand inhabitants. But it must be recol- 
lected that the high-roads, or pathways, along which 
we were obliged to march, were the roads leading 
from one village to another. I travelled, therefore, 
through the peopled part of the country. Away 
from these main pathways there were vast tracts of 
prairie and some wooded land remaining in their 
original desert condition. 

Upon the whole, I liked the Aponos, and got on 
very well whilst in their country. They showed 
themselves to be honest, and were faithful in carrying 
out the engagements they entered into with me, in 
spite of the numerous palavers we had. I lost none 
of my property by theft whilst I was amongst them. 

The village of Mokaba is large and well-arranged ; 
its site^ as I have before remarked, is picturesque, 
and, in short, it was the prettiest village I have ever 
seen in Africa. There are upwards of 130 houses or 
huts, which, as in other West- African villages, are so 
arranged as to form one main street. But, in Mokaba, 



Chap. XIII. VILLAGE OF MOKABA. 259 

several houses are connected so as to form a square, 
with a common yard or garden in the middle, in which 
grow magnificent palm-trees. Behind the houses, 
too, are very frequently groups of plantain and lime- 
trees. The village being thus composed of a series 
of small quadrangles and back-gardens containing 
trees with beautiful foliage, the whole effect is very 
charming. In the rear of the houses, amidst the 
plantain-groves, they keep their goats, fowls, and 
pigs. This was the only village where I saw tame 
pigs. I was struck with the regularity of the main 
street ; but, besides this, there was another narrower 
street on each side of the village, lying between the 
backs of the houses and the plantain-groves, and 
kept very neat and closely-weeded. Each house has 
in front a verandah, or little open space without 
wall, occupying half the length of the house ; the 
other half, in equal portions on each side, forms 
apartments in which the owners sleep and keep their 
little property. When a man marries, he imme- 
diately builds a house for his new wife ; and, as the 
family increases, other houses are built; the house 
of each wife being kept separate. The palm-trees 
in the quadrangles are the property of the chief 
man of each group of houses ; and, being valuable 
property, pass on his death to his heir, the next 
brother or the nephew, as in other tribes. Some of 
these palm-trees tower up to a height of 50 feet, and 
have a singular appearance in the palm-wine season 
from being hung, beneath the crown, with hollowed 
gourds receiving the precious liquor. 



260 THE MAKCH THKOUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 

The large quantity of palm-trees in and around 
the village furnish the Aponos of Mokaba with a 
ready supply of their favourite drink, palm-wine; 
for, as I have said before, they are a merry people, 
and make a regular practice of getting drunk every 
day as long as the wine is obtainable. I often saw 
them climb the trees in early morning, and take deep 
draughts from the calabashes suspended there. Like 
most drunken people, they become quarrelsome ; and 
being a lively and excitable race, many frays occur. 
Happily the palm-wine season lasts only a few months 
in the year : it was the height of the drunken season 
when I was at Mokaba. I saw very few men who 
had not scars, or the marks of one or more wounds, 
received in their merry-making scrimmages. Their 
holidays are very frequent. Unlimited drinking is 
the chief amusement, together with dancing, tam-tam- 
ming, and wild uproar, which last all night. They 
are very fond of the ocuya performances. The ocuya 
is a man supporting a large framework resembling 
a giant, and whimsically dressed and ornamented, 
who walks and dances on stilts. In Mokaba, he 
appears in a white mask with thick open lips, dis- 
closing the rows of teeth minus the middle incisors, 
according to the Apono fashion. The long gar- 
ment reaches to the ground, covering the stilts. It 
struck me as a droll coincidence that his head-dress 
resembled exactly a lady's bonnet, at least the re- 
semblance held good before chignons came into 
vogue ; it was surmounted by feathers and made of 
the skin of a monkey. Behind, however, hung the 



Chap. XHI. DEPAETUEE FEOM MOKABA. 261 

monkey's tail, which I cannot say has its parallel in 
European fashions, at least at present. 

June IQth, We left Mokaba at a quarter-past ten, 
a.m., having been detained since sunrise by the 
effects of the palm wine. Every one of my porters 
was more or less tipsy ; and after they had drunk all 
the wine there was in the village they had not had 
enough, but went into the woods to fetch down the 
calabashes that had been left on the palm-trees to 
catch the liquor. About an hour before starting we 
had a heavy shower of rain, which lasted a few 
minutes. It was the first rain we had had since we 
left Mayolo. 

Leaving Mokaba, we pursued a direction a little 
north of east. The ground soon began to rise, and 
we entered on a richly-wooded hilly country, in 
which were numerous plantations and villages ot 
slaves belonging to the head men of Mokaba. At 
a plantation called Njavi, my aneroids showed me 
that we were 200 feet above Mokaba. This place is 
called Njavi probably on account of the plantation 
being worked by slaves from the Njavi country. 

We halted here a short time, for some of the 
porters were not very strong on their legs. 

From Njavi I could see the mountains where the 
Kamba people live. They seemed, after leaving a 
gap, to unite with a range on this side. The gap 
was a continuation of the valley in which flows the 
Rembo Ngouyai. 

At twenty minutes to two we came to the dry 
bed of a stream with a slaty bottom, which ran from 
N.E. to S.W. Shortly afterwards, we crossed 



262 THE MAECH THEOUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 

another similar stream flowing over slaty rocks, 
called Dougonndo ; this had running water. We 
halted on its banks for about twenty minutes, and 
during our rest, I found by observations that we 
had descended since leaving the ISTjavi plantation. 
The altitude of the plantation was 610 feet, the rivulet 
Dougoundo was only 473 feet above the sea-level. 
Near our halting-place were tv/o Ishogo villages, but 
we did not go to them. 

"We continued our journey to the south-east, and 
at half-past three arrived at a large Ishogo village 
called Igoumbie. We did not intend to stay, and 
marched straight through ; the people all hiding 
themselves in their huts, with the exception of a 
few men bolder than the rest, who stood staring 
at us, without uttering a word, as we marched 
along. When we had passed through the village, 
we stopped near the road or pathway on the other 
side, about fifty yards beyond. Then Kombila and 
some of our Apono men went back to the village, 
and spoke to the people. One of the elders of the 
place was a great friend of Kombila's, and they all 
knew the Mokaba people. So one of the elders, 
named Boulingue, Kombila's friend, came back with 
him to our encampment, and begged me to come and 
stay in the village, saying that they did not wish us 
to pass their place without their giving us something 
to eat. As we had no meat in store, and one of my 
Commi men wanted rest for his sore leg, lamed by a 
kettle having fallen on it, I accepted the invitation, 
and we passed the night at this place. 

I could not ascertain who was the chief of this 



Chap. XIII. AERIVAL AT IGOUMBIE. 263 

village, if there was any. Since I have left Monendi 
I cannot find out that there are any head men or 
chiefs in the villages, but there seemed to be a certain 
number of elders, who hold authority over their 
respective villages. Here three elders, beating the 
kendo, came and presented me, each one, with a goat 
and several bunches of plantains — prefacing their 
presents with three tremendously long speeches. 

At a glance I perceived that I was among quite a 
different people from those I had hitherto met with. 
The mode of dressing the hair, both with men and 
women ; the shape of their houses, each with its 
door ; the men smeared with red powder ; all these 
points denoted a perfectly different people. 

I was glad to remain for a couple of nights at 
Igoumbie, for I wanted to take as many observations 
as I could. 

After I had distributed some beads among the 
women in the evening, a few became more friendly 
— especially as my Apono porters were never tired 
of praising me. They seemed also to be much 
pleased at seeing that, of the three goats which the 
people of their village had presented to me, I had 
given two to my porters. 

I was very much amused with these Ishogos, 
especially with the women. When they thought I 
was not looking at them, they would partially open 
the door of their hut and peep out at me. As soon 
as I looked at them, they immediately closed the 
door, as if greatly alarmed. When they had to go 
from one house to another, and had to pass the hut 
in which I was located, and at the door of which I 



264 THE MAECH THROUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XHI. 

was seated, tliey hurriedly crossed to the other side 
of the street, putting their hand up to the side of 
their face so that they might not see me — apparently 
with a view to avoid or avert the *' evil eye." My 
Aponos were very indignant at this, and said, with 
an air of evident superiority, and as though they had 
been with me all their lives, " When have these 
men of the woods seen an Oguizi before ? " 

Though I was very tired, yet I did not go to bed 
until I had taken several meridian altitudes of stars, 
in order to ascertain my latitude. The process caused 
the greatest astonishment to the natives. 

June lltH, Igoumbie is the largest village I have 
met with yet, and forms one long and tolerably broad 
street. I counted 191 huts; each hut has a wooden 
door, and is divided into three compartments or 
chambers. The houses are generally placed close to 
each other, not wide apart like the houses of the 
Aponos. There are many of the curious alumbi 
houses scattered about. A large mbuiti or idol house 
stands about halfway down the street, with a mon- 
strous wooden image inside, which the villagers hold 
in great reverence. The village being so large, the 
inhabitants seem to have thought it required several 
palaver-houses, for I noticed four or five. The. 
palaver-house is an open shed, which answers the 
purpose of a public-house, club-room, or town-hall, to 
these people ; they meet there daily to smoke and 
gossip, hold public trials or palavers, and receive 
strangers. What was most remarkable, there was here 
an attempt at decorative work on the doors of many of 
the houses. The huts, neatly built, with walls formed 




ISHOGO HOUSES, WITH OENAMENTED DOOKS, 



Chap. XIIT. HUTS OF THE ISHOGOS. 265 

of the bark of trees, had tlieir doors painted red, 
white, and black, in compKcated and sometimes not 
inelegant patterns. These doors were very inge- 
niously made ; they turned upon pivots above and 
below, which worked in the frame instead of hinges. 
Each house is of an oblong shape, about twenty-two 
feet long by ten or twelve feet broad ; the door being 
in the middle of the front, three and a half feet high 
and two and a half feet broad. The walls are four 
and a half feet high and the highest part of the roof 
is about nine feet. 

I could not sleep last night on account of the noise 
made by these Ishogos. They sang their mbuiti 
songs until daylight, marching from one end of the 
village to the other. When at a distance their 
singing did not sound unpleasant, but when close by 
it was almost deafening. During the day I made 
friends with the Ishogos, and gave them sundry 
small presents. Many of the women came and gave 
me bunches of plantains, sugar cane, and ground- 
nuts, and seemed much pleased when I tasted them. 

In the evening the atmosphere was very clear, 
and I was glad to be able to take some more meridian 
altitudes and a good many lunar distances. 

By the time I had written down my journal, and 
recorded my astronomical observations, it was half- 
past two in the morning, and, after a hard day's 
work, I was glad to get to bed, especially as we had 
to leave Igoumbie early the next morning. 

June 12th. We took leave of Igoumbie a little 
before eight a.m. The people seemed unwilling to 
let us go, and the elders begged us to stay another 
19 



266 THE MARCH THROUaH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 

day. At nine we passed over a high hill called 
Ncoondja. A number of Apono people from a vil- 
lage a few miles off, including four of their head 
men, accompanied ns for some distance. Some tam- 
pering took place with my Apono porters, and I had 
great difficulty in preventing them from throwing 
down their loads and going back. It was an awk- 
ward position to be placed in ; but, by dint of coaxing 
and promising extra pay if they would accompany 
Kombila to the place to which he and they had 
agreed to take me, they resumed their loads, and we 
continued our march. 

We passed two Apono villages near together ; 
and halted for breakfast by a small . stream of water 
near the second one. We were soon surrounded by 
villagers bringing fowls and plantains. The noise 
and confusion were so great that I went away alone 
for a walk in the thick of the forest, leaving my men 
to bargain for fowls and eggs. All the villagers 
wanted to get some of my beads. 

We resumed our march at half-past twelve. Kom- 
bila annoyed me much by slinking behind, and 
getting drunk with another of my men, named 
Mbouka, an elder of Mokaba, who at the last moment 
said he would accompany us for a walk. Under one 
pretext or another they had remained behind ; and 
as they had told .the villagers to follow them " with 
the drink," when they knew that I was far enough 
off, they took their libations. They both made their 
appearance after causing a long delay, and Mbouka 
had a calabash of palm wine in one of the country 
bags, which I detected, the bag being of a great size. 



Chap. XHI. DIFFICULTIES WITH PORTERS. 267 

I was resolved to put a stop to this, so forced the 
man to give up his bag, and poured the wine out on 
the ground, to the great dismay of Kombila, and to 
the extreme indignation of Mbouka, who grieved 
that the earth should receive the wine that would 
have so rejoiced his stomach. He protested that 
I ought to pay him back the beads he had paid 
for the wine. This palm- wine drinking had been for 
some time a great annoyance to me. Our porters 
squandered their pay (which consisted chiefly of 
beads) in buying wine at the villages, and were thus 
spending all their money before we reached the 
journey's end. I was glad that at Igoumbie there 
were no palm-trees, so they could get no wine there : 
besides, the Ishogos of that place are far more sober 
than the Aponos. What with this, and other inter- 
ruptions and squabbles, and losing the path for some 
time, we made but little ■ progress to-day, although 
we marched till dark. 

June l^th We left our encampment at half-past six 
a.m. The Apono porters threatened again to leave 
their loads unless I gave them an increase of pay ; but 
I was determined to resist this imposition, and de- 
clared I would shoot down the first man that mutinied. 
My Commi boys kept close watch over the rascals 
during our morning's march. 

We travelled in an easterly direction. In the 
course of an hour we crossed the Bouloungou, a dry 
stream, similar to those we had crossed on the 10th ; 
its bed was slaty, as was the hill down which it flowed. 
We have met with no quartz blocks or granite since 
leaving Mokaba. The paths along which we have 



268 THE MAECH THROUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XHI. 

marclied have been covered with fragments of fer- 
ruginous sandstone, the corners and edges of which 
hurt the feet of mj men very much. We passed 
over a hill of considerable elevation, but, my aneroids 
being packed away, I did not stop to unload and 
take the altitude. Eastward, it sloped down rapidly 
until we reached a fine valley, with miles of plantations 
of ground-nuts. Finally, "vye came to Yengue, an 
Ishogo village, almost as large as Igoumbie, situated 
on the banks of a river called Ogoulou, one of the 
ajffluents of the Ngouyai. 

Before entering the village, we stopped until all 
the porters were collected together. Then Kombila 
and I took the lead, followed by my Commi men, 
after whom came the Apono porters. We marched 
through the street of the village — the villagers look- 
ing at us, open-mouthed — until we reached the large 
ouandja, which was almost at the farthest extremity 
of the village ; Kombila all the time exclaiming to 
the alarmed villagers, " Do not be afraid ; we have 
come to see you as friends ! " 

Kombila then went and spoke to some of the 
elders, who came to me, and presented fowls and 
plantains — the presence of my Apono guides, whom 
they knew. to be on good terms with me, re-assured 
them : and, after a short delay, they allotted a house 
to me and my Commi boys ; while my Aponos went 
to lodge with their friends. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

JOUKNEY THKOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. 

Yillage of the Obongos or Dwarf Negroes — Their Dwellings — Absence of 
the Inhabitants — The Elders and People of Yengue — Arrival of the 
Chief of Yengud — War Dance of the Aponos — Ceremony of the Mpaza 
— An uproarious Night — Good conduct of the Apono Porters — The 
•Eiver Ogoulou — Geographical Position and Altitude of Yengue — Pass- 
age of the Ogoulou — March to the Plateau of Mokenga ^— Eastern 
Limits of Ishogo-land — Quembila King of Mokenga — Palavers — 
Contention between Chiefs for the possession of the " Ibamba " — Panic 
in Mokenga — Ee-adjustment of Baggage — Ishogo Porters. 

On our way to Yengue, in traversing one of the 
tracts of wild forest through which runs the high- 
way of the country, we came suddenly upon a clus- 
ter of most extraordinary diminutive huts, which I 
should have passed by, thinking them to be some 
kind of fetich-houses, if I had not been told that we 
might meet in this district with villages of a tribe of 
dwarf negroes, who are scattered about the Ishogo 
and Ashango countries and other parts further east. 

I had heard of these people during my former 
journey in the Apingi country, under the name of 
Ashoungas ; they are called here, however, Obongos. 
From the loose and exaggerated descriptions I had 
heard on my former journey, I had given no credence 
to the report of the existence of these dwarf tribes, 
and had not thought the subject worthy of mention 
in my former narrative. The sight of these extra- 



270 JOURNEY THEOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIY. 

ordinary dwellings filled me with curiosity, for it 
was really a village of this curious people. I rushed 
forward, hoping to find some at least of their tenants 
inside, but they had fled on our approach into the 
neighbouring jungle. The huts were of a low oval 
shape, like a gipsey tent ; the highest part — ^that 
nearest the entrance — was about four feet from the 
ground ; the greatest breadth was about four feet also. 
On each side were three or four sticks for the man 
and woman to sleep upon. The huts were made of 
flexible branches of trees, arched over and fixed 
into the ground at each end, the longest branches 
being in the middle, and the others successively 
shorter, the whole being covered with large leaves. 
When I entered the huts, I found in each the remains 
of a fire in the middle of the floor. 

It was a sore disappointment for me to miss this 
opportunity of seeing and examining these people. 
We scoured the neighbourhood for some distance, but 
could find no traces of them. A few days after- 
wards, at Niembouai, as will presently be seen, I was 
more fortunate. 

As usual, the king was not in the village. 
But one of the elders took great care of me ; so 
after a while I called him into my house, and 
made Kombila tell him that I had not come to do 
them harm, but good. Then I put on his head a 
bright shining red cap, and round his neck a string 
of very showy beads. As he came out of my hut, 
the shouts of the people were deafening. I then 
distributed a few beads among the women. My 
Aponos did the same, and to-night the ice is partly 



Chap. XIV. THE CHIEF OF YENGUE. 271 

broken, and the people are very friendly with me. 
Kombila having told the women that I was very 
fond of sugar-cane and ground-nuts, they brought 
me some, laying them at my feet. In return I gave 
them beads, and chatted with as many as I could get 
to talk to me. 

June 14:th, The man whom I suppose to be 
the head chief of Yengue arrived in town this 
afternoon. It appears that he had fled through fear 
at my approach, and had gained confidence only on 
hearing that I was not such a dreadful being as he 
had imagined. The news of the red cap I had 
given to the elder had reached his ears ; for the first 
thing he asked me was whether I would give him 
one also. He told me that he had also heard that 
I had given beads to some of his wives, and to other 
women in the village. Last night I heard a man 
walking in the streets of the village and saying, in 
a tone of voice like that of a town crier : " We have 
an Oguizi amongst us. Beware ! There is no mondah 
to prevent us from seeing him during the day, but 
let no one try to see him in his house at night, for 
whoever does so is sure to die." It was one of the 
elders walking through the village and making this 
proclamation in the usual way in which laws are 
announced in this country. 

After the arrival of the chief, things looked quite 
promising. A formal reception palaver took place in 
the open street, the Apono people seated in a row 
on one side, and the Ishogos on the other. Kom- 
bila stated at great length, as usual, the objects of 
my journey, and the king answered in a speech of 



272 JOURNEY THROUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV. 

greater length still. The chief gave to Kombila, as 
presents for me, two goats, ten fowls, nine bunches 
of plantains, and a native anvil. The ceremony 
finished in a Knd of war-dance, in which the 
Aponos took part. 

This kind of dance is called by the Aponos M'mnirri. 
It is a war-dance, performed only by the men, and is 
remarkable for the singular noises the dancers make, 
yelling and beating their breasts with both hands, like 
the gorilla, and making a loud vibrating noise with 
their lips resembling the word " muirri." The men 
form a line, and, in dancing, advance and retreat. 
The dance waxes furious as it goes on, and the noise 
becomes deafening. After it was over, the uproar was 
continued by the whole village joining in the fes- 
tivities, singing, beating the tam-tam, and rattling 
pieces of wood together, until my head reeled again. 

The noise was continued throughout the night; 
and, as it was impossible to sleep, I got up at four 
o'clock and walked in the fresh morning air. The 
people were then parading up and down the street, 
singing loud and long enough to make them hoarse 
for a month after. At daylight I heard the voice of 
the chief proclaiming something or other, and imme- 
diately afterwards there was dead silence throughout 
the village. 

The singing and dancing during this uproarious 
night were partly connected with a curious ceremony 
of this people, namely, the celebration of the mpaza, 
or the release from the long deprivation of liberty 
which a woman suffers who has had the misfortune 
to bring forth twins. 



Ctiap. XIY. ceremony OF THE MPAZA. 273 

The custom altogether is a very strange one, but 
it is by no means peculiar to tlie Ishogos, although 
this is the first time I witnessed the doings. The 
negroes of this part of Africa have a strange notion 
or superstition that when twins (mpaza) are born, one 
of them must die early ; so, in order, apparently, to 
avoid such a calamity, the mother is confined to her 
hut, or rather restricted in her intercourse with her 
neighbours, until both the children have grown up, 
when the danger is supposed to have passed. She is 
allowed during this time to go to the forest, but is 
not permitted to speak to any one not belonging to 
her family. During the long confinement no one 
but the father and mother are allowed ta enter the 
hut, and the woman must remain chaste. If a 
stranger goes in by any accident or mistake, he is 
seized and sold into slavery. The twins themselves 
are excluded from the society of other children, and 
the cooking utensils, water vessels, &c., of the family 
are tabooed to everybody else. Some of the notions 
have a resemblance to the nonsense believed in by 
old nurses in more civilized countries ; such as, for 
instance, the belief that when the mother takes one 
of the twins in her arms something dreadful will 
happen if the father does not take the other, and so 
forth. 

The house where the twins were born is always 
marked in some way to distinguish it from the 
others, in order to prevent mistakes. Here in 
Yengue it had two long poles on each side of the 
door, at the top of which was a piece of cloth, and at 
the foot of the door were a number of pegs stuck in 



274 JOUENEY THEOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV. 

the ground, and painted white. The twins were now 
six years old, and the poor woman was released from 
her six years' imprisonment on the day of my arrival. 
During the day two women were stationed at the 
door of the house with their faces and legs painted 
white — one was the doctor, the other the mother. 
The festivities commenced by their marching down 
the street, one beating a drum with a slow measured 
beat, and the other singing. The dancing, singing, 
and drinking of all the villagers then set in for the 
night. After the ceremony the twms were allowed 
to go about like other children. In consequence of 
all this trouble and restriction of liberty, the bringing 
forth of twins is considered, and no wonder, by the 
women as a great calamity. Nothing irritates or 
annoys an expectant mother in these countries so 
much as to point to her and tell her that she is sure 
to have twins. 

The tribes here are far milder than those found 
near Lagos, or in East Africa, where, as Burton men- 
tions, twins are always killed immediately on their 
being born. 

June 15th, I awoke this morning rather unwell 
from having had so disturbed a night ; and when the 
king came to shake hands with me — a custom I had 
taught him to adopt — I refused his proffered hand, 
saying that I was angry, and annoyed at the dis- 
turbances of the past night. Whereupon the mild- 
tempered chief promised that the next night they 
should sing a long way from my resting-place. We 
then became better friends than ever. 

In the evening I gave him his present. He came 



Chap. XIY. GOOD CONDUCT OF THE APONO PORTEES. 275 

alone, haying requested me to give it to him at 
night, so that the people might not see what he got. 
I also gave a handsome present to his head wife. 

As my Apono porters had now brought me 
to Ishogo-land, and had shown themselves discon- 
tented several times during the march, I called them 
all together this morning, and told them I did not 
wish them to take me any further, but would pay 
them and send them back to their coimtry. At this 
Kombila came forward and begged of me not to 
mind what the boys had said. To leave me here in 
a village of strangers would fill him and them with 
shame. They had hearts, and would not think of 
going back to their own country, before taking me 
to the place to which they were bound. He said the 
chief of this place to which he wished to take me 
was a true friend of his, and that not until he had 
delivered me into his hands could he dare to show 
himself again in Mokaba. All the porters applauded 
the speech, and declared their readiness to go farther 
on; and said, laughing, that I must not mind what 
they did, as they were only trying to get something 
more. This is a sample of the uncertainty of all 
dealings with these fickle, but not wholly evil-minded, 
savages. The chief of the Ishogo village to whom 
we are bound is, I am now told, to take me forward 
into Ashango-land. 

The river Ogoulou, on the banks of which Yengue 
is situated, is a fine stream forty or fifty yards broad, 
and of great depth in the rainy season. It is now 
about ten feet deep, and I perceived that it was fifteen 
feet lower than the highest water-mark. The banks 



276 JOUENEY THEOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV. 

of the river show signs of a very considerable popu- 
lation ; for about a mile on each side the valley is full 
of plantations both new and old ; the most extensive 
plantations of ground-nuts I ever saw in Africa are 
found here — they extend along the slopes of the 
banks of the river for miles. I once thought a small 
steamer might reach this place from above the Samba 
!N"agoshi Falls, but I was told on my return journey 
that there was an obstruction in the shape of rapids 
a few miles below Yengue. By taking the meridian 
altitude of two stars, I found the latitude of Yengue 
to be 2° 0' 49'' S. I could not take lunar distances 
to determine the longitude, as the sky was constantly 
covered with a leaden veil of cloud at night. The 
altitude above the sea-level is 369 feet; this seems 
a low elevation, but Yengue lies in a valley much 
depressed below the general level of the country. 
The river flows through a most beautiful country, 
and is the largest feeder of the Rembo Ngouyai above 
the Falls, that I have seen. 

June l&Ji, This morning, whilst making prepara- 
tions for the continuation of our journey, a deputation 
arrived from an Apono village some miles south of 
Yengue, the chief of which was a brother of Kombila, 
bringing us an invitation to visit it on our way. The 
chief promised to take us from his village to the 
Ashango country. I declined the offer, as the route 
would have taken me too far south, and I had already 
diverged more towards the south than I had in- 
tended. 

The Yengue people were afraid I should take their 
canoes by force to cross the Ogoulou, and when I was 



Chap. XIY. PASSAGE OF THE OGOULOU. 277 

about to start had hidden them in the jungle. It 
required a long parley to bring them to reason. At 
length three ferry-boats were brought, one old and 
rotten. The owner of this last boat was an old man, 
who knew how to drive a very hard bargain: he 
required four measures of powder for the loan of the 
boats, and when I had given him four asked five, 
when I had given him five he raised his demands to 
six, and so on. It finished at last in the usual way by 
my indignantly refusing his demands ; he then came 
round to more moderate terms, — the more readily, 
because he saw that the other two boat-owners were 
ready to take us at my price — and we embarked, 
all Yengue crowding down to the water-side to see 
us off, the chief himself leading me to the boat. 

After crossing the Ogoulou (which I have named 
the Eckmiihl in honour of a dear friend in France) we 
passed through a tract of forest varied with numerous 
plantations of the natives, the river flowing through 
a fertile alluvial valley, between ranges of hills. 

Before we had emerged from the river valley we 
passed through several Ishogo villages ; the country 
then began to rise, and we marched over a hilly 
district, all covered, as usual, with impenetrable 
jungle. The forest paths were narrow, and the 
most varied and strange forms of vegetation rose on 
either side. We were delayed some time on the way 
waiting for stragglers. At two p.m. we reached an 
elevated plateau, and a little before three arrived at 
the Ishogo village of Mokenga, about six miles to 
the eastward of Yengue, and 160 feet higher than 
that town. 



278 JOUENEY THEOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV 

The place appeared deserted when we entered, all 
the doors were closed, and we took possession, undis- 
turbed, of a large unoccupied shed. A few men soon 
afterwards were seen peeping at us from afar with 
frightened looks. Kombila shouted to them, " How is 
it that when strangers come to your village you do 
not hasten to salute them ? " They recognised some 
of the Aponos, and shouted back, " You are right, 
you are right ! " Then they came to us and gave us 
the usual salutation of the Ishogos, which is done by 
clapping the hands together and stretching them out, 
alternately, several times. We returned the com- 
pliment in the same form, and then ensued much 
tedious speechifying on the part of Kombila, who 
related all that had happened to us since we com- 
menced our expedition ; what fine things I gave to 
the villagers among whom we stayed; how, when 
we stopped at Tengue, and the people of Yengue 
wanted them to leave me with them, they refused, 
and said they would take me to the Ashango country ; 
and that now they said they would stay with me 
until they brought me back safe to Mokenga. 

Then Kombila cried out, with all the might of his 
stentorian voice, " If you are not pleased, tell us, and 
we will take the Spirit to another village, where the 
people will be glad to welcome us." 

Then all the elders of the village withdrew to- 
gether, and shortly returned, saying, " We have 
heard what you have said ; we are pleased, and 
gladly welcome the Spirit." 

They then told us that the king was not in the 
village. I noticed that every time I came into a 



Chap. XIV. VILLAGE OF MOKENGA. 279 

new village, tte king ran away. They added that 
thej would send for liim; meantime, food was 
brongM to ns, as is always the custom on such 
occasions, and things looked pleasant. 

The '* M'bolo " salutation common to the Mpongwes 
of the Gaboon and all the tribes of the Ogobai is 
unknown in this interior country. 

Jwie 17th. Last night, as some of my men were 
fixing their mosquito nets outside the huts, they were 
told by the Mokenga people that they had better 
sleep inside and secure well the doors, as leopards 
were roaming about the village, and had lately killed 
many of their dogs and goats. They added that in a 
neighbouring village a leopard had killed several 
people. So careful were they of my safety, that a body- 
guard of three of my men came to protect me whilst I 
was out taking meridian altitudes of a and j8 Centauri 
and Arcturus. One of them fell asleep before my 
work was half done, and made the rest of us laugh by 
snoring most boisterously. This sort of thing gene- 
rally happened when any of the negroes pretended 
to keep watch whilst I was out in the night taking 
observations. I was once startled at midnight by 
hearing a formidable snore close to where I stood. 
Looking on the ground I saw my man Igalo fast 
asleep, his gun by his side. Kicking him gently, I 
asked him why he was not in his hut. He replied : 
" Do you think I could leave you here alone at night 
amongst people who use poisoned arrows ? No ; I 
keep watch." I laughed at the poor fellow's style of 
keeping watch, but felt, nevertheless, glad of this 
proof of his good intentions. I was annoyed to find 



f/' 



■^ 



280 JOURN-EY THEOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV. 

my second boiling-point apparatus broken to-day ; I 
have now only one left. My aneroids and boiling- 
point thermometers have corresponded well so far. 

June IS th. The king made his appearance to-day, 
thinking that the bad wind or plague I had brought 
with me had now had time to blow away. He was 
clad in grass-cloth, and wore a covering on his head in 
shape somewhat resembling a turban. On his arrival 
a grand palaver was held ; the Ishogo people ranging 
themselves on one side, and my Apono attendants 
and Commi body-guard on the other. According to 
the usual formula, Kombila commenced the speechify- 
ing, beginning with a history of my progress through 
the interior from the beginning. Like the chiefs 
described by Captain Burton in Abbeokuta, these 
Africans would begin their long rigmaroles from the 
time of Adam if they could. At last Kombila came 
to the enumeration of the presents I had received 
from the chief of Yengue, and he drew the conclusion 
that he of Mokenga ought to give at least as much. 
The allusion to goats, fowls, and plantains drew forth 
great cheers on the part of my Apono attendants, 
for thoughts of gourmandizing were always upper- 
most in their minds, and the faces of my own boys 
brightened also ; for they are quite as fond of good 
feeding as my Aponos. 

In the middle of the palaver an amusing scene 
occurred. Our pertinacious friend, the brother of 
Kombila, and chief of a neighbouring Apono village, 
had been to his place and returned with a present for 
me of two goats, with the purpose of bribing me to 
go by way of his place to Ashangp-land. The jealousy 



Chap. XIY. CONTENTION BETWEEN CHIEFS. 281 

of the Ishogos was aroused ; they seized the men who 
had brought the goats, and said : " Do you think we 
have no goats to give the Ibamba and no men to take 
him to the Ashango country ? Take back your goats ; 
he will not go with you ; we will ask him his mouth 
(intention)." Of course my answer was that I should 
go forward with the Ishogos, for a march by way of 
the Apono village would take me out of my direct 
easterly course. The word "ibamba," which was 
now commonly applied to me, is the Ishogo equi- 
valent of the Commi term " ntangani " or white man. 

I had thoroughly secured the friendship of these 
Mokenga villagers. It is wonderful how the distri- 
bution of a few red caps and beads softens the heart . 
of the primitive African. They were determined to 
stick to me, and Kombila's brother was discomfited. 
More speeches followed from the elders of Mokenga, 
the kendo of King Quembila was beaten, the presents 
were brought out, and the king, with one of my red 
caps stuck on his head, accepted my proffered hand, 
and all things were pleasant. 

The sky has been cloudy all day, the sun shining 
only for half an hour towards eleven a.m. A similar 
state of the atmosphere has existed for several days 
past, the clouds generally clearing away about seven 
in the evening, but the sky remaining filled with haze, 
and at the rising of the moon becoming cloudy again. 
I have not been able to see the moon at all in the 
morning, and have been unable to take a lunar dis- 
tance. 

June Idth. A panic seized the Ishogos at night. 

The news somehow spread through the village (no 
20 



f 



282 JOUKNEY THROUGH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV. 

one could tell who brought it) that in all the villages 
I had gone through the people were dying fast, 
especially those to whom I had given things. The 
fear was so great that many of the women took the 
beads I had given them and threw them away in the 
woods. Happily Quembila took my part, and said 
it was not true, but that the people of other villages 
originated the report through jealousy. I assembled 
the villagers together, and addressed him in the usual 
way by parable. '' When you marry a woman," I 
said, " she loves you, she brings you plenty of food, 
she presents you with the fish she catches in the 
forest streams ; are you then to flog her ? (Cries of 
''No, no!") But it is this which happens when I 
come to your village. You give me food, you give 
me a house to live in, your women are kind to me — 
how, then, can I bring evil on you ? " They all 
shouted : " You are right, the Ishogos are jealous of 
us ; they spread bad news to prevent us getting some 
of your good things." Many of the young men 
came forward and offered themselves as porters to 
take me to the Ashango country ; while the chief and 
the elders came and presented me with a goat as a 
peace-offering, saying they were sorry for what the 
people had done, and for the offence they had given 
me by being afraid of me. 

June 19^A. It being thus agreed that the Ishogos 
should take me to the Ashango country, I dismissed 
my Apono party this afternoon, after calling them 
all together and giving to each a parting present 
in addition to their pay, which they had already 
received. I also gave them a goat for food on their 



Chap. XIV. EE-ADJUSTMENT OF BAGGAGE. 283 

way back. These parting presents always produced 
a good effect, both on the people I dismissed and the 
fresh ones I was about to engage. The Aponos 
departed in good humour and full of thanks. We 
were all glad to get rid of these troublesome though 
well-meaning Aponos, as we then thought them ; 
but we found reason afterwards to regret them, as 
they were far better workers than the lazy Ishogos. 

June 20tl2. The diminution of my stores necessitated 
a re-arrangement of the loads. All the otaitais (porters' 
baskets) were opened, and the contents re-sorted. 
This travelling life is not a lazy one ; I am busy 
from morning till night, and the quiet hours after the 
people have retired to rest are the only time I have 
for writing my journal, projecting my route, and 
writing out three copies of my astronomical and other 
observations. In the daytime, besides the time 
wasted in almost incessant palavering, I am beset by 
crowds of gaping villagers from sunrise to sundown. 
At night I have got into the habit of waking fre- 
quently and going out to watch for chances of taking 
observations for longitude and latitude ; chances not 
of frequent occurrence in this cloudy climate at this 
time of the year. 

These savages do not seem to sleep at night, for 
they sing and dance and beat their tam-tams until 
morning. They seem to be afraid of darkness, be- 
lieving that night is the time when the spells of 
witchcraft are the most potent. 

June 2\st, I engaged eighteen Ishogo porters, pay- 
ing them, as customary, their wages beforehand, and 
promising them further pay if they performed their 



r 



284 



JOUENEY THEOUaH ISHOGO-LAND. Chap. XIV. 



engagements to my satisfaction. I also gave a pre- 
sent to eacli of the elders who had given me goats, 
fowls, or plantains. King Quembila is too old and 
feeble to accompany me, so I am to have as guide one 
of the leading men, named Mokounga.* 

* The following are the names of my Ishogo party : — 





Head man, Mokounga. 




Mokanbi, 


Ncbiengani- 


orere, 


Maboungo, 


Mokanbiyengo, 


Mondjo, 




Moquid, 


Nchiengani, 


Doutai, 




Mandolo, 


Maduta, 


Mogangue, 




Medjambi, 


Makima, 


Matomba, 




Nchando. 


Madibako, 


Mandja, 








ISHOGO FASHIONS. — OBLIQUE CHIGNON. 



CHAPTEE XY. 

FROM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. 

The Ishogos — Their Modes of dressing the Hair — Ishogo Villages — 
Picturesque Scenery — Granitic Boulders — Grooved Eocks — Leave 
Mokenga — Cross the Dongon — Continued Ascent — Mount Migoma 

— The Kiver Odiganga — Boundaries of Ishogo and Ashango-lands — 
Arrival at Magonga — Plateau of Madomho — ^Mutiny of Ishogo Porters 

— An unfriendly Village — Elevated Country — Arrival and friendly 
Eeception at Niembouai — The King's Wives — Prejudices of the 
Commi Men — Hear of a large Eiver towards the East — The Ashangui 
Tribe— The Obongos. 

The Ishogos are a fine tribe of negroes ; they are 
strongly and well bnilt, with well-developed limbs 
and broad shoulders. I consider them superior to 
the Ashiras in physique, and I remarked that they 
generally had finer heads, broader in the part where 
phrenologists place the organs of ideality. With 
some of them their general appearance reminded me 
of the Fans. The women have good figures ; they 
tattoo themselves in various parts of the body — on 
the shoulders, arms, breast, back, and abdomen — 
and some of them have raised pea-like marks similar 
to those of the Apono women, between the eye-brows 
and on the cheeks. Both men and women adopt the 
custom of pulling out the two middle incisors of the 
upper jaw, but this mode of adding to their personal 
attraction is not so general as among the Aponos; | 



# 



286 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

many file their upper incisors and two or three of 
the lower ones to a point. 

The men and women ornament themselves with 
red powder, made by rubbing two pieces of bar-wood 
together ; but their most remarkable fashions relate 
to the dressing of the hair. On my arrival at 
Igoumbie, I had noticed how curious the head-dresses 
of the women were, being so unlike the fashions I 
had seen among any of the tribes I had visited. 
Although these modes are sometimes very grotesque, 
they are not devoid of what English ladies, with 
their present fashions, might consider good taste : in 
short, they cultivate a remarkable sort of chignons. I 
have remarked three different ways of hair-dressing 
as most prevalent among the Ishogo belles. The 
first is to train the hair into a tower-shaped mass 
elevated from eight to ten inches from the crown of 
the head ; the hair from the forehead to the base of 
the tower, and also that of the back part up to the 
ears, being closely shaved off. In order to give 
shape to the tower, they make a framework, gene- 
rally out of old pieces of grass-cloth, and fix the hair 
round it. All the chignons are worked up on a 
frame. Another mode is to wear the tower, with 
two round balls of hair, one on each side, above 
the ear. 

A third fashion is similar to the first, but the 
tower, instead of being perpendicular to the crown, 
is inclined obliquely from the back of the head, and 
the front of the head is clean shaven almost to the 
middle. The neck is also shorn closely up to the 
ears. 




ISHOGO FASHIONS. — HOEIZONTAL CHIGNON. 



Chap. XV. MODES OF DKESSINa THE HAIR. 287 

The liair on these towers has a parting in the 
middle and on the sides, which is very neatly done. 
The whole structure must require years of careful 
training before it reaches the perfection attained by 
the leaders of Ishogo fashion. A really good chignon 
is not attained until the owner is about twenty or 
twenty-five years of age. It is the chief object of 
ambition with the young Ishogo women to possess 
a good well-trained and well-greased tower of hair of 
the kind that I describe. Some women are far better 
dressers of hair than others, and are much sought for 
— the fixing and cleaning of the hair requiring a 
long day's work. 

The woman who desires to have her hair dressed 
must either pay the hair-dresser or must promise to per- 
form the same kind office to her neighbour in return. 

Once fixed, these chignons remain for a couple of 
months without requiring to be re-arranged, and the 
mass of insect life that accumulates in them during 
that period is truly astonishing. However, the women 
make use of their large iron or ivory hairpins (which 
I described in 'Equatorial Africa') in the place of 
combs. The fashion of the '' chignon'' was unknown 
when I left Europe, so that to the belles of Africa 
belongs the credit of the invention The women 
wear no ornaments in the ears, and I saw none who 
had their ears pierced ; they are very different from 
the Apingi in this respect. Like the women of other 
tribes, they are not allowed to wear more than two 
denguis, or pieces of grass-cloth, by way of petticoat. 
This stinted clothing has a ludicrous effect in the fat 
dames, as the pieces do not then meet well in the middle. 



288 FROM ISHOOO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

The men also liave fancy ways of trimming their 
hair. The most fashionable style is to shave the 
whole of the head except a circular patch on the 
crown, and to form this into three finely-plaited 
divisions, each terminating in a point and hanging 
down. At the end of each of these they fix a large 
bead or a piece of iron or brass wire, so that the 
effect is very singular. The Ishogo people shave 
their eyebrows and pull out their eyelashes. 

The native razor, with which both men and women 
shave themselves, is a kind of curved and pointed 
knife made of iron, well worked and tempered with 
charcoal, the cutting edge being the convex side. It 
is four or five inches long and has a wooden handle. 
Slabs of slaty stone are used as whetstones. 

The Ishogo villages are large. Indeed, what 
most strikes the traveller in coming from the sea- 
coast to this inland country, is the large size, neat- 
ness, and beauty of the villages. They generally 
have about 150 or 160 huts, arranged in streets, 
which are very broad and kept remarkably clean. 
Each house has a door of wood which is painted in 
fanciful designs with red, white, and black. One 
pattern struck me as simple and effective ; it was a 
number of black spots margined with white, painted 
in regular rows on a red ground. But my -readers 
must not run away with the idea that the doors are 
like those of the houses of civilized people ; they are 
seldom more than two feet and a half high. The 
door of my house was just twenty-seven inches 
high. It is fortunate that I am a short man, other- 
wise it would have been hard exercise to go in 




I8H0G0 FASHIONS. YIILTICAI. ( IIIGNOX, 




ISHOGO FASHIONS. MALE HEAD-DRESS. 



Chap. XY. ISHOGO VILLAGES. • 289 

and out of my lodgings. The planks of whicli the 
doors are made are cut with great labour by native 
axes out of trunks of trees, one trunk seldom yielding 
more than one good plank. My hut, an average- 
sized dwelling, was twenty feet long and eight feet 
broad. It was divided into three rooms or compart- 
ments, the middle one, into which the door opened, 
being a little larger than the other two. 

The wealth of an Ishogo man, contained in his 
hut, consists of numerous baskets and dishes or large 
plates made of wicker-work, and a large stock of 
calabashes to contain water, palm oil, and palm wine, 
all which are suspended from the roof. The baskets 
and wicker-work plates are made either of reeds or 
of the rind of a kind of wild rotang, divided into 
thin strips. The calabashes are hardened by long 
exposure to smoke, in order to make them more 
durable. A highly-valued article is the cake of 
tobacco, carefully enveloped in leaves and suspended, 
like the rest of the property, from the roof. Numerous 
cotton-bags and cooking-vessels are hung about, or 
stored away, and on the walls are the bundles of the 
cuticle of palm-leaves, of which their bongos are 
woven. 

The Ishogos are a peaceful tribe, and more in- 
dustrious than tribes who live nearer the sea-shore. 
'Very few of them bear scars or signs of hostile 
encounters. Offensive weapons are not common ; at 
least they are not carried about on ordinary occasions. 
I saw very few spears and bows and arrows carried 
in that way, but swords are more general, and they 
carry these along with them in their friendly visits 



290 FKOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

from one village to another. In these respects they 
differ mnch from their neighbours the Aponos, who 
are very warlike. Their villages are surroimded 
with palm-trees, and they are not sparing of the 
favourite intoxicating beverage obtained from them ; 
but they do not become, like the Aponos, boisterous 
and quarrelsome over their cups. They are altogether 
milder in character. On the other hand, it must be 
said to their discredit that they are far more given 
than the Aponos to sell their kindred into slavery. 
There can be no doubt about this, judging from the 
much larger proportion of Ishogos than Aponos met 
with in slavery amongst the coast-tribes. This, how- 
ever, may be due to the fact that the Ishogos sold 
into slavery go down the Eembo Ngouyai, and reach 
the country between Cape Lopez and Fernand Vaz ; 
while most of the Aponos sold reach the coast by 
way of Mayomba. In fact, the goods the Aponos 
get, especially the salt, come from that direction, as 
far as I could judge from the direction indicated to 
me by them. The borders of Ishogo-land, near the 
Apono country, had been visited by the small-pox 
before my arrival, and indeed were not yet quite 
free from it. The Ishogos speak the same language 
as the Apingi, which, as I have already remarked, 
is quite distinct from the Ashira idiom. 

The Ishogo people are noted throughout the neigh- 
bouring tribes for the superior quality and fineness 
of the bongos, or pieces of grass-cloth, which they 
manufacture. They are industrious and skilful 
weavers. In walking down the main street of Mo- 
kenga a number of ouandjas, or houses without walls, 




ISHOGO LOOM AND SHUTTJ,E. 



Ch^. xy. ishogo weavers. 291 

are seen, eacTi containing fonr or five looms, with 
the weavers seated before them weaving the cloth. 
In the middle of the floor of the ouandja a wood-fire 
is seen burning, and the weavers, as you pass by, are 
sure to be seen smoking their pipes and chatting to 
one another whilst going on with their work. The 
weavers are all men, and it is men also who stitch the 
bongos together to make denguis or robes of them ; the 
stitches are not very close together, nor is the thread 
very fine, but the work is very neat and regular, and 
the needles are of their own manufacture. The 
bongos are very often striped, and sometimes made 
even in check patterns ; this is done by their dyeing 
some of the threads of the warp, or of both warp and 
woof, with various simple colours ; the dyes are all 
made of decoctions of different kinds of wood, except 
for black, when a kind of iron ore is used. The 
bongos are employed as money in this part of Africa. 
Although called grass-cloth by me, the material is 
not made of grass, but of the delicate and firm cuticle 
of palm-leaflets, stripped off in a dexterous manner 
with the fingers. 

Mokenga is a beautiful village, containing about 
160 houses; they were the largest dwellings I had 
yet seen on the journey. The village was surrounded 
by a dense grove of plantain-trees, many of which 
had to be supported by poles, on account of the 
weight of the enormous bunches of plantains they 
bore. Little groves of lime-trees were scattered every- 
where, and the limes, like so much golden fruit, 
looked beautiful amidst the dark foliage that sur- 
rounded them. Tall, towering palm-trees were 



292 FKOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV 

scattered here and there. Above and behind the 
village was the dark green forest. The street was 
the broadest I ever saw in Africa ; one part of it 
was about 100 yards broad, and not a blade of 
grass could be seen in it. The Sycohii were build- 
ing their nests everywhere, and made a deafening ^ 
noise, for there were thousands and thousands of 
these little sociable birds. 

Mokenga, being on the skirts of the interior moun- 
tain ranges, its neighbourhood is very varied and 
picturesque. The spring from which the villagers 
draw their water is situated in a most charming spot. 
A rill of water, clear and cold, leaps from the lower 
part of a precipitous hill, with a fall of about nine 
feet, into a crystal basin, whence a rivulet brawls 
down towards the lower land through luxuriant 
woodlands. The hill itself and the neighbourhood 
of the spring are clothed with forest, as, in fact, is 
the whole country, and the path leads under 
shade to the cool fountain. I used to go there in 
the mornings whilst I was at the village to take a 
douche-bath. In such places the vegetation of the 
tropics always shows itself to the best advantage ; 
favoured by the moisture, the glossy and elegant 
foliage of many strange trees and plants assumes its 
full development, whilst graceful creepers hang from 
the branches, and ferns and liliaceous plants grow 
luxuriantly about the moist margins of the spring. 

Not far from Mokenga there was a remarkable 
and very large boulder of granite perched by itself 
at the top of a hill. It must have been transported 
there by some external force, but what this was I 



Chap. XY. GEANITIC BOULDEES— GEOOVED EOCKS. 293 

cannot undertake to say. I tlioiight it possible tliat 
it might have been a true boulder transported by a 
glacier, like those so abundant in northern latitudes. 
Although I visited it and examined it closely, I 
found no traces of grooves upon it. On my way 
from Mokaba to Yengue, I saw no boulders of quartz 
or granite. 

My visits to this enormous block of granite were 
so numerous that they attracted the notice of the 
natives, and I was not a little surprised, one fine 
morning, to find the village in a state of great ex- 
citement about the rumour that the boulder was not 
in the same place as it had always been, and that 
the Oguizi had moved it. The people dared not 
mention their suspicions to me ; indeed, they were so 
much alarmed that they fled from me ; but they 
surrounded my men, and, with every mark of fear 
and superstitious excitement, asked them why I had 
moved the stone. It was in vain that my men 
attempted to laugh them down, and even when some 
of them went with the villagers to examine the huge 
block, it was impossible to make them see that the 
block had not moved ; such w^as the effect their pre- 
conceived ideas had upon their vision. 

Whilst I am on the subject of boulders and signs 
of glaciers, I may as well mention that, when cross- 
ing the hilly country from Obindji to Ashira-land, 
my attention was drawn to distinct traces of grooves 
on the surface of several of the blocks of granite 
which there lie strewed about on the tops and de- 
clivities of the hills. I am aware how preposterous 
it seems to suppose that the same movements of ice 



294 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

whicli have modified the surface of the land in 
northern countries can have taken place here under 
the equator, but I think it only proper to relate 
what I saw with my own eyes. 

I called three of the elders to my hut, and gave 
them each a present, including a red cap apiece. 
The people said they would have a dance in the 
evening, in order to show me how the Ishogos danced. 
I am now quite friendly with them all, and they 
seem to like me and my people. 

June 22nd, We left Mokenga at twenty minutes 
past eleven a.m. Before we started, a number of 
women brought us little parcels of ground-nuts to 
eat on the road ; they really seemed sorry to see us 
depart. Soon after leaving the village we began 
again to ascend rising ground. After we had been 
an hour on the road, my aneroids gave an altitude 
of 738 feet. About three or four miles from Mo- 
kenga we crossed a little stream called Dongon. At 
an Ishogo village named Diamba, which we passed 
about two o'clock, I saw two heads of the gorilla 
(male and female) stuck on two poles placed under 
the village tree in the middle of the street. In ex- 
planation of this I may mention here that in almost 
every Ishogo and Ashango village which I visited 
there was a large tree standing about the middle of 
the main street, and near the mbuiti or idol-house of 
the village. The tree is a kind of Ficus, with large, 
thick, and glossy leaves. It is planted as a sapling 
when the village is first built, and is considered to 
bring good luck to the inhabitants as a talisman : if 
the sapling lives, the villagers consider the omen a 



Chap. XV. SACKED VILLAGE TREES. 295 

good one ; but if it dies they all abandon the place 
and found a new village elsewhere. This tree grows 
rapidly, and soon forms a conspicuous object, with its 
broad crown yielding a pleasant shade in the middle 
of the street. Fetiches, similar to those I have de- 
scribed in the account of Eabolo's village on the 
Fernand Yaz, are buried at the foot of the tree ; and 
the gorillas' heads on poles at Diamba were no doubt 
placed there as some sort of fetich. The tree, of 
course, is held sacred. An additional charm is lent to 
these village trees by the great number of little social 
birds {Si/cobius, three species) which resort to them 
to build their nests amongst the foliage. These 
charming little birds love the society of man as well 
as that of their own species. They associate in these 
trees sometimes in incredible quantities, and the 
noise they make with their chirping, chatting, and 
fuss in building their nests and feeding their young 
is often greater even than that made by the negroes 
of the village. 

The villagers at Diamba, who had heard how we 
had treated the Mokenga people, entreated us to stop 
here for the night, but I would not consent. 

The country became more and more mountainous 
as we travelled onward ; but the path led through 
thick woods, and we could not obtain extensive 
views except in places where trees had been felled 
for plantations. Through one of these breaks I 
saw two high hills, one called Migoma, and another 
Ndjiangala. 

Our road led us over Mount Migoma, and from it 
I had a magnificent view of the country to the south 



296 FROM ISHOGO TO A-SHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

and sontli-east. Eanges of hills, all wooded to tlie 
snmmit, stretched away as far as the eye could reach. 
By compass, I found the ranges to tend N.W. by 
W. and S.E. by E. We passed, in the course of the 
evening, two other Ishogo villages ; and, at five p.m., 
fixed our encampment for the night near the foot of 
a hill called Mouida, on the banks of a beautiful 
stream, called Mabomina. We had travelled about 
ten miles since leaving Mokenga. 

June 23rd, Our night was not a very tranquil one, 
as our Ishogos had to keep watch in turns on account 
of the leopards prowling about. I had myself very 
little sleep, having no inclination to be made a meal 
of by the hungry animals. 

At eight a.m. we left the leaf-thatched sheds which 
we had built for our last night's shelter. At ten, we 
reached the banks of the Odiganga, a picturesque 
stream, one of the tributaries of the Ngouyai. At 
the place to which our path led us the stream was 
fordable at this season, the water reaching only to 
our hips, but a few yards lower down the stream was 
very deep. It is only at certain points that the river 
is fordable. During the rains it becomes so deep 
and dangerous that the natives have to cross it on 
a raft secured by ropes to the trees on either bank. 
The Odiganga forms the eastern boundary of the 
Ishogo territory, and runs towards the south-west. 
There are two Ishogo villages near the right bank, 
and an Ashango village on the left. The two tribes 
are curiously intermixed in the Ishogo villages ; on 
one side of the street Ishogos dwell, and on the other 
side Ashangos; they are probably *^elated by mar- 



Chap. XY. AKEIYAL AT MAGONaA. 297 

riage, and thus live in company ; or it may be that the 
various clans, which are fast diminishing in numbers, 
unite together in order to form a large and popu- 
lous village. 

After we had forded the Odiganga — which was by 
no means an easy task, owing to the strength of the 
current — we reached the village of Magonga. I may 
here remark that the villages I have seen in this 
country never run parallel to, or along the banks of 
the rivers, but at right angles to them — one end of 
the village generally being near the water. 

At this Ashango village my Ishogo porters found 
many friends and fathers-in-law ; and, although we 
had marched only five miles to-day, they pleaded 
fatigue in order to have an idle day with them. 
Mokounga made all sorts of excuses to put a stop to 
the march ; so, much against my will, I had to order 
a halt. The villagers, to propitiate me, brought me 
as a present a goat and some plantains. 

June 24:th, I find that old Mokounga, my Ishogo 
leader, is a man of no influence amongst his country- 
men. When I gave him orders to pack up and 
march this morning, the porters took very little 
notice of his directions, and wanted to stay another 
day. Happily, I had among them a man of more 
power than the leader, named Maduta, whose family 
was partly Ashango_, and who aided me in my 
endeavours to move my party forward. After much 
ado, we succeeded in leaving the village at nine a.m. 
The disappointed villagers followed us as we marched 
out, and endeavoured to entice some of the porters 
to remain; they all cursed Maduta, and said that 
21 



298 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

j 

they would settle accounts with him if he came back 
to their village, as he was the cause of the Ibamba's 
not remaining with them, and of their not getting 

i beads enough. It required some firmness on our 

I part to keep them all in order; so, as our porters 

were ready, I ordered Igala to lead the van, gun in 
hand, and one by one we filed through the street, I 
bringing up the rear. 

I We had hardly cleared the village when we com- 

menced the ascent of a steep hill called Madombo. 
It was so steep in some places that we had to help 
ourselves up by the aid of the bushes. In many 

I parts recently fallen trees lay across the path, and 

these had to be climbed over. Thorny climbers and 
briars tore our clothes, and the porters struggled on, 
venting curses against the many obstacles that lay 
in their way. The summit formed an extensive 
table-land, the mean altitude of which, according to 
my aneroids, was 1226 feet. We marched over this 
elevated plateau for about three miles, and then 
descended a little, stopping for breakfast on the 
banks of a rivulet called Mandjao. 

Before we resumed our loads, the porters came to 
me in a body, and mildly asked me to give them 
each a few beads to enable them to purchase ground- 
nuts in the Ashango villages. I told them that I 
was willing to have given them beads at Magonga, 
and I opened my bags and distributed a few amongst 
them ; but I was not a little surprised immediately 
afterwards to find that a mutiny had been resolved 
upon. They began to complain that I had been 
more liberal to the Aponos than to them — that I had 



Chap. XV. MUTINY OF ISHOGO PORTEES. 299 

given them a great many things, for they saw 
them ; and the chief spokesman, the same man who 
had been the chief cause of our troubles at the last 
village, had the impudence to say to his comrades, 
*'If he will not give us more beads, let us leave 
him." The whole body then laid down their loads, 
and said they would return to their homes. This 
was a critical moment; I felt that an energetic step 
was necessary to put an end to such insubordination. 
I gave the order to my Commi men to arm, and, in a 
few moments, the resolute fellows stepped forward 
and levelled their guns at the heads of the offenders. 
I told them to go now, and they would see how many 
would reach the other side of the brook aKve. The 
movement had its due effect — they all held out their 
hands and begged to be forgiven. These little muti- 
nies I found were all arranged beforehand ; they are 
attempts at extortion, and the rascals in planning 
them agree not to proceed to extremities. In a short 
time they had again taken up their loads, and we 
marched off at a quick pace ; the porters becoming 
quite cheerful, laughing and chattering as they 
trudged along. 

In the course of an hour after this, we arrived at 
a large Ashango village, called Oyego or Moyego, 
through which we passed without stopping ; the 
inhabitants, who seemed to be more astonished at 
my boots than at anything else, cried out, ^* Look ! 
he has feet like an elephant ! " The road all the 
way was very hilly ; at one part I found the eleva- 
tion 1486 feet, so that the land here was higher than 
the plateau of Madombo. 



300 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

At four p.m. we reached another Ashango village. 
I was unwilling to accept the hospitality of this place 
owing to the noise and annoyance caused by the vil- 
lagers, in fact I felt that my head would not stand it, 
and so fixed my camp at a short distance from it; 
erecting as usual slight sheds of poles thatched with 
leaves. 

June 25th, The altitude of my encampment was 
1480 feet above the sea-level. The thermometer at 
six a.m. marked 72° Fahr., and at noon only 73°. In 
the early morning a thick mist lay over the magnifi- 
cent woodlands, and half hid the village and sur- 
rounding palm-trees from our view. Ahead of us 
were hills that rose much higher than our present 
position ; we were now at length in the heart of the 
mountainous country in the interior of Africa. 

It is very curious that one side of the street of 
this village is peopled by the Ashango, and the other 
side by the Njavi tribe. This was the only opportu- 
nity I had of seeing people of the Njavi tribe; it 
appeared that they had been driven westward to this 
place by the enmity of a powerful tribe, of whom I 
shall have to speak further on — the Ashangui — 
whose country lies near theirs on the east ; for the 
territory occupied by the Njavi lies between Ashango- 
land and the country of the Ashangui. These Njavi 
were the shyest and most timid negroes I had ever 
met with. They would never allow me to enter 
their houses, and were filled with fear when I merely 
looked at them. 

The streets of all the Ashango villages I have yet 
seen are less broad than those of the Isliogo villages. 



Chap. XV. DIFFICULTIES AND DISCOUKAGEMENTS. 301 

As to the inliabitants, my first impressions were un- 
favourable. They brought us no food either for sale 
or presents, and the few men who came to our camp 
spent all the time in tedious speechifying, of which I 
was by this time heartily sick. My Ishogo men 
again began to show signs of discontent, this time 
not against me but against the villagers; they said, 
" If there is nothing to eat, let us be off. We do 
not stop at villages where goats are not given to 
the Oguizi!" The rascals knew very well that the 
goats would be given to them to eat. I fed my 
porters well, for many were induced to come from 
hearing the stories told by the Aponos of the great 
number of goats they had eaten while with me. In 
truth it is enough to weary a man out. It is a 
tremendous task that I have undertaken. The ordi- 
nary difficulties of the way, the toilsome marches, the 
night watches, the crossing of rivers, the great heat, 
are as nothing compared with the obstacles and annoy- 
ances which these capricious villagers throw in our 
way. I begin to dread the sight of an inhabited place. 
Either the panic-stricken people fly from me, or remain 
to bore me by their insatiable curiosity, fickleness, 
greediness, and intolerable din. Nevertheless I am 
obliged to do all I can think of to conciliate them, 
for I cannot do without them ; it being impossible 
to travel without guides through this wilderness of 
forests where the paths are so intricate ; besides, we 
could not make our appearance in the villages with- 
out some one to take us there and say a good word 
for us. The villagers are frightened enough of us 
as it is, although we come with their friends. I am 



802 FllOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

forced to appear good-tempered wlien, at the same 
time, I am wishing them all at the bottom of the sea. 
They surround my hut, hallooing and shouting ; as 
soon as I make my appearance they run away. 
When I re-enter my hut, they all come back again 
and recommence shouting for me. During the few 
days I remain in a village I go about from house to 
house, distributing beads to the women, coaxing the 
children, and allaying by smooth speeches the fears 
and prejudices of the men. I sit by their fire- 
side. If they are eating, I ask them for some of 
their food and taste it — this always pleases them 
vastly. 

And after all these exertions to win their favour 
and friendship, I never knew for certain, when we 
entered a village, whether we might not be received 
with a shower of poisoned arrows, 

June 2Qth. There was again a thick mist this morn- 
ing, lasting from sunrise to nine a.m. We had suc- 
ceeded in buying two goats at this frightened village. 
As I had been unable to take meridian altitudes of 
stars at Magonga, I hoped to have done so here : but 
the state of the weather unfortunately prevented my 
doing so. Having no further inducement to stay, and 
a deputation from the next village, called JSFiembouai, 
having arrived to invite us there, I was resolved to 
resume the march early this morning. When, how- 
ever, we were getting our loads ready, the head man 
Mokounga and two of the porters were missing, 
having sneaked away to feast and drink in company 
with their friends in the village. I fairly lost temper 
over these people, and went into the village deter- 



Chap. XY. KECEPTION AT JSTEMBOUAI. 303 

mined to use force, if necessary, to drag them away. 
I found one of them in a hut, seated by the side of 
the fire, with a huge pot of plantains nearly ready for 
breakfast. On his refusing to come I knocked him 
over with the butt-end of my rifle. An energetic 
demonstration of this kind never fails ; but one is 
obliged to be sparing of such displays, as they tend 
to have the effect of frightening everybody away for 
good. The man in falling knocked over the pot of 
boihng plantains ; so there was a great hubbub, which 
roused the whole village, the woman loudly cursing 
the man for being the cause of her pot being broken. 
Mokounga came forth from his hiding-place, begging 
forgiveness in the most abject manner ; and as I drove 
the fellows to the camp, the chief came along the 
street beating his kendo to allay my wrath, and I 
began to regret my Apono porters. 

At length we were again en route. For several 
miles we continued to ascend ; and whenever we could 
obtain a view through breaks in the forest we saw 
higher ground towards the east and south-east. Huge 
rocks of ferruginous sandstone bordered the line of 
our route. Our entry into Niembouai was a pleasant 
affair compared with our reception at most of the 
other villages. This was chiefly owing to one of 
the elders of Niembouai having been at Mokenga 
while I was there ; and who, having returned before 
us, had prepared the inhabitants. There was no 
shyness displayed, nor were there any attempts to 
run away. The best house in the village had been 
prepared for me. It belonged to the elder who had 
met us at Mokenga, and who now claimed me as his 



304 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

guest, and, according to the custom of the country, no 
one disputed his claim. 

Before we entered the village, our Ishogo porters, 
with the usual greediness of these negroes, resolved 
to make halt and eat our only remaining goat ; their 
only motive being to avoid being required to share 
the meal with their relatives in Niembouai, Africans 
are most confirmed gluttons ; and, although used to 
their displays of voracity, I was annoyed at the 
conduct of my porters on this occasion, for nothing 
would do but we must halt by the roadside, kill the 
goat, and make a fire, although there was no water 
near the place. 

June Tlth. The king of Niembouai, like most of 
the other monarchs of these regions, did not show 
himself on my arrival — he was absent until about 
noon to-day. I have been told that the reason why 
the chiefs keep away from the villages until I have 
been in them some time is, that they have a notion 
that I bring with me a whirlwind which may do 
them some great harm ; so they wait until it has had 
time to blow away from the village before they make 
their appearance. 

Presents and food for sale came in early, and wo 
were well supplied to-day. I was much pleased at the 
respectful and quiet behaviour of the people. The 
Niembouaians .must have heard of my dislike of 
impertinent curiosity and noise, and are trying their 
best to be better behaved than other people. How- 
ever this might be, I resolved to reward their good 
conduct by exhibiting to them some of the wonders 
I had brought with me. I informed the elders of 



Chap. XY. ENTERTAINMENT TO THE NATIVES. 805 

my intention, and tTie people came in great numbers 
and formed a circle round me. The musical box 
was brought out, wound up, and set playing. The 
people were mute with amazement ; at first they did 
not dare to look at the musical box, afterwards they 
looked from me to the box and from the box to me, 
evidently convinced that there was some communica- 
tion between me and it. Then I went away into 
the forest, the musical box still continuing to play. 
When I came back there was still the same mute 
amazement. The box was still playing, and the 
people seemed to be spell-bound, not one could utter 
a word. When I saw that the tunes were played 
out, I shouted out as loud as I could " Stop ! " and 
the silence that ensued seemed to surprise them as 
much as the music had done before. Then taking 
my revolver I fired several times, and my men fired 
off their guns. Whereupon with one accord the 
Ashangos cried out, "Truly the Spirit has come 
among us ! " 

So soon as this wild excitement had somewhat sub- 
sided, the accordion was brought out. With this 
instrument I made a noise, for I do not know how 
to play upon it. The same silence followed ; and 
when now and then I played the high notes in a 
tremulous manner, the people all raised their arms 
in a state of nervous excitement ; indeed I could not 
understand the strong effect the instrument had upon 
their nerves. The king, during the performances, 
was continually beating his kendo, and speaking to 
the spirits of his ancestors. I had not exhibited these 
marvels at any village since I left Mayolo The 



306 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

astonisliment, the cMldish wonder and mystification 
of these primitive people, wlio had probably never 
yet seen any article of civilized manufacture, except 
beads and articles of brass, may easily be imagined. 
Beer-bottles are to be seen now and then in the 
interior, and it is astonishing how far inland they 
have penetrated. They are held in very high estima- 
tion by the chiefs, who covet nothing so much as a 
black bottle to hang by their side, and contain their 
palm wine ; they consider the bottle far superior to 
the native calabash for this purpose ; no doubt, be- 
cause it comes from a foreign country. If any of 
the wives or slaves of a chief have the misfortune 
to break a bottle, there is a fearful row. The per- 
formances had an exceedingly good effect on the 
minds of the people with respect to the feelings with 
which they regarded us. In return I asked the 
king to let me see his alumbi-house, to which he 
went every day, both in the morning and also a 
little before dark. In the evening he always lighted 
a fire, then beat his kendo, and spoke to the spirits 
of his ancestors. As the little hut was close to my 
lodging, I could hear what was going on ; and could 
now and then distinguish my own name in his 
invocations. Though he had promised to take me 
into his alumbi-house, he always put off doing so 
with one excuse or other. 

The king was blessed with numerous wives, and 
one of them, the queen Qconde, or head wife) was 
a nice-looking young girl, not more than seventeen 
or eighteen years of age. She was not shy, as 
most of the wives of chiefs were in the countries 



Chap. XV. PREJUDICES OF THE COMMI MEN. 307 

we had lately passed throTigh ; she cooked for me and 
gave plantains to my men. To gratify her, I made 
her a present of a goat — at least, I was going to do 
so, but Mokounga laughed heartily at the idea. " Do 
you not know," says he, " that the Ashango and 
Ishogo do not allow their women to eat goats ? " 
This, indeed, was the fact, although I had not par- 
ticularly noticed it in my passage through the 
villages. Women or girls are not allowed to eat the 
flesh of goats or fowls. I suppose they are prohi- 
bited because the men wish to reserve such scarce 
articles of food for themselves. It is only amongst 
the Commi and Mpongwe that this prohibition 
does not exist or has been abolished. I withheld 
my intended present, and gave the young lady a 
string of my best beads instead. 

To-day I gave a good lecture to my Commi boys, 
especially to Macondai. These negroes of the coast 
have an extraordinary contempt for the negroes of 
the interior, and I had noticed a growing disposition 
in them, as we marched eastward, to insult even the 
elders and chiefs of the villages we passed through. 
Some days ago I observed Macondai, whilst standing 
near an Ishogo man, turn aside from him with an 
expression of disgust and spit on the ground; and 
to-day, when one of the king's nephews took a seat 
by his side, he got up and said he must get out of 
the way of that slave, he stank so. Although this 
was spoken in the Commi language, the Ashango 
man understood it and was very angry, and un- 
pleasant consequences might have ensued if I had 
not interfered ; so I called Macondai aside and gave 



308 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

him a sound scolding. The rest of my Commi 
companions took the same view of the matter as 
Macondai. They said they were superior to these 
Ashangos ; they were not bushmen nor slaves (mean- 
ing that the Ashangos are sent to the sea-shore to 
be sold) ; they did not file their teeth nor rub them- 
selves over with powder ; and more to the same effect. 
I told them they were all of the same race, and that 
there was a time when their own tribe, the Commi, 
sold their fellows into slavery. Of course my men 
obeyed me, and abstained afterwards from openly 
showing contempt for the chiefs ; but my arguments 
did not convince them that the Ashangos had the 
same natural rights as they had themselves. I often 
heard them say, " How is it possible that Chaillie can 
think us to be of the same blood as these slaves ? " 

We had a drizzling rain from half-past six p.m., 
lasting all night. 

June 2Sth, The ground is soaked after so many 
hours of steady rain, and this is in the middle of 
the dry season. There is evidently no sharp dis- 
tinction between the seasons in these high inland 
regions. 

I was told to-day, and it was repeated to me in 
every place afterwards, that there is a tribe called 
Ashangui, very numerous,- and clever workers in iron, 
who live a few days' march further on towards the 
east, on the banks of a large river. This river must 
either be the Congo or some unknown stream flowing 
towards the great river. It is remarkable that the 
people in most of the Ashango villages were very 
anxious to get gunpowder from me; the porters 



Chap. XV. THE ASHANGUI TKIBE, 309 

wanted to be paid partly in powder, and many of the 
villagers were provided with a little measure made 
of a hollowed gourd expressly for the purpose of 
measuring the powder that they received from me 
in payment of food and so forth. I wondered at 
first why they were so anxious to obtain gunpowder, 
as they had no guns and were even afraid of handling 
one ; so I asked them what they wanted to do with 
the powder they got from me, as they had no guns. 
They replied that a tribe called Ashangui, living 
beyond the Njavi and Abombo, bought it and gave 
them iron for it ; that all the iron they had came 
from there, that there was a good deal of iron " in 
the land ; " that all the anvils came from there, and 
that their swords, spears, and arrow-heads, in fact, 
all their edged implements, were made of iron bought 
from that country. The iron from the West Coast 
sold by the trades does not reach so far inland as 
this place. 

We must conclude, from their buying the powder, 
that the Ashangui are in possession of guns, which 
they obtain from traders on the Congo. From 
Niembouai eastward I found beads were not un- 
common, and these must have been obtained by 
way of the Congo and through the Ashangui ; in 
fact, all the natives told me they came up the large 
river : they get also copper from Europe. I inquired 
about the Sajmcli, or people with cloven feet — a 
mythical race, believed in by all negroes, and, accord- 
ing to the reports of Ashango slaves on the coast, 
living in this country — but, as I had expected, their 



^; 



310 FROM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 

country was now said to be a long way further on. 
It is very likely that these stories about the Sapadi 
originate in accounts of the Obongos or hairy dwarfs, 
who are really inhabitants of Ashango-land, as we 
shall presently see. 



CHAPTEE XVL 

ASHANGO-LAND. 

Cloudy Skies of Ashango-land — Grand Palaver — Isliogo Porters dismissed 
— The Village Idol — Religious Rites — Visit to an Obongo Village — 
Abodes and Habits of the Dwarf Race — Measurements of their Height 
— River Ouano — Singular Ferry — Mount Mogiama — Its Altitude — 
Village of Mongon, its Latitude, Longitude, and Height above the Sea- 
level — Village of Niembouai Olomba — Its picturesque Site — Bashi- 
kouay Ants — Ascend Mount Birogou Bouanga — Its Altitude — More 
Troubles — Robbed by the Ashango Porters — Summary Measures — 
Resume our March — Arrive at Mobana — Dex^arture of a Bride — Arrival 
at Mouaou Kombo. 

June 29th, The sky in this elevated region is almost 
constantly clouded or hazy. All day yesterday it was 
either clouded or overspread with a thick haze ; the 
sun was dimly seen only for a few minutes about 
four o'clock, and at night the moon did not remain 
visible long enough to enable me to take lunar obser- 
vations. To-day it is the same, much to my annoy- 
ance, as I wished to take a lunar distance. 

A grand palaver was held to-day. The elders of 
Niembouai were all mustered, seated in a half- circle 
on the ground, and smoking their long pipes — 
which are about three feet in length — with imper- 
turbable gravity. The great number of old peojDle 
seen here was quite remarkable, and the fact speaks 
well for the healthiness of the climate or the absence 
of wars and deaths on account of witchcraft. The 
people here, and also among the Ishogos, seemed to 
have more respect for old men than in other tribes. 



312 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

It required a long explanation by Maduta and Mo- 
kounga to convince the wise men that I had not 
come to their country to buy slaves and ivory, but 
simply to travel from one tribe to another. They 
had to recount as usual all the stages of my progress 
and enumerate the different chiefs who had helped 
me on from tribe to tribe. Maduta is related to 
some of the villagers by marriage, and this favoured 
our arrangements ; he dwelt particularly on the many 
offers I had had, on the way, to stay at villages, and 
how I had refused them in order to have more 
presents to give away to the good people of Niem- 
bouai. This announcement was received with tre- 
mendous cheers, and cries of " Rovano ! " (that is 
so). They on their part^ he said, must outdo the 
other places in the magnitude of the presents of food 
they had to make me. He finished a long rigmarole, 
which took him about an hour to deliver, by saying 
that the Ishogos had now fulfilled their duty in 
bringing me safely to Ashango-land, and that the 
duty, or, as their language expressed it, the " shame " 
(or point of honour) remained with the Niembouai 
people to carry me on a stage further. 

The Ashangos unanimously shouted " We have 
shame, we will pass the Oguizi on." Speeches then 
set in on their side, and the palaver broke up, to the 
satisfaction of all parties, after three hours' duration. 

After this business was over I finished the payment 
of the Ishogo porters, by distributing amongst them 
the parting presents. I then gave them a goat for 
food on the way, and they set off to march back to 
their homes, not without bidding me a kind good- 



Chap. XYI. THE TILLAGE IDOL. 313 

bje. Nothing pleases these people so much as these 
parting presents, as they are unexpected. J>< 

This evening I went to see the village idol, or 
mbuiti (the patron saint as it may be called), and to 
witness a great ceremony in the mbuiti-house. As 
with the Aviia and other tribes, the idol was a mon- 
strous and indecent representation of a female figure 
in wood ; I had remarked that the further I travelled 
towards the interior, the coarser these wooden idols 
were, and the more roughly they were sculptured. 
This idol was kept at the end of a long, narrow, and 
low hut, forty or fifty feet long and ten feet broad, 
and was painted in red, white, and black colours. 
When I entered the hut, it was full of Ashango 
people, ranged in order on each side,* with lighted 
torches stuck in the ground before them. Amongst 
them were conspicuous two mbuiti men, or, as they 
might be called, priests, dressed in cloth of vegetable 
fibre, with their skins pamted grotesquely in various 
colours, one side of the face red, the other white, and 
in the middle of the breast a broad yellow stripe ; 
the circuit of the eyes was also daubed with paint; 
these colours are made by boiling various kinds of 
wood, and mixing the decoction with clay. The rest 
of the Ashangos were also streaked and daubed with 
various colours, and by the light of their torches 
they looked like a troop of devils assembled in the 
lower regions to celebrate some diabolical rite ; around 
their legs were bound white leaves from the heart of 
the palm-tree ; some wore feathers, others had leaves 
twisted in the shape of horns behind their ears, and 
all had a bundle of palm leaves in their hands. 
22 




314 ASHANGO-LAND. Chai'. XVI. 

Soon after I entered, the rites began. All the men 
squatted down on their haunches, and set up a 
deafening kind of wild song. There was an orchestra 
of instrumental performers near the idol, consisting 
of three drummers with two drumsticks each, one 
harper, and a performer on the sounding stick, which 
latter did not touch the ground, but rested on two 
other sticks, so that the noise was made the more re- 
sonant. The two mbuiti men, in the meantime, were 
dancing in a fantastical manner in the middle of the 
temple, putting their bodies into all sorts of strange 
contortions. Every time the mbuiti men opened 
their mouths to speak, a dead silence ensued. As the 
ceremony continued, the crowd rose and surrounded 
the dancing men, redoubling at the same time the 
volume of their songs, and, after this went on for 
some time, returning to their former positions. This 
was repeated several times. It seemed to me to be a 
kind of village feast. The mbuiti men, I ought to 
mention, had been sent for from a distance to officiate 
on the occasion, and the whole affair was similar to a 
rude sort of theatrical representation. The mbuiti 
men, like the witchcraft doctors, are important per- 
sons among these inland tribes ; some have more 
reputation than others, but in general those who live 
furthest off are most esteemed. At length, wearied 
out with the noise, and being unable to see any mean- 
ing or any change in the performances, I returned to 
my hut at half-past ten. 

June 30th, The altitude of Niembouai I found to 
be 1896 ft. above the level of the sea. I succeeded 
in obtaining observations both for latitude and longi- 



Chap. XVI. VISIT TO AN OBONGO VILLAGE. 315 

tilde. The village lies in 1° 58' 54" S. lat. and 
IP 56' 38'' E. long. 

I had heard that there was a village of the 
Obongos, or dwarfed wild negroes, somewhere in the 
neighbourhood of Niembouai, and one of my first 
inquiries on arriving at the place was naturally 
whether there was any chance of my seeing this 
singular people, who, it appears, continually come 
into their villages, but would not do so while I 
was there. The Ashangos themselves made no ob- 
jection, and even offered to accompany me to the 
Obongo village. They told me, however, that I had 
better take with me only a very small party, so that 
we might make as little noise as possible. Two 
guides were given me, and I took only three of my 
men. We started this morning, and reached the 
place after twenty minutes' walk. In a retired nook 
in the forest were twelve huts of this strange tribe, 
scattered without order, and covering altogether 
only a very small space of ground. The shape of 
the huts was the same as that I have before described 
in the deserted Obongo village near Yengue. When 
we approached them no sign of living creature was 
to be seen, and, in fact, we found them deserted. 
The huts are of such slight construction, and the 
Obongos so changeable, that they frequently remove 
from one place to another. The abodes were very 
filthy ; and whilst my Commi men and myself were 
endeavouring to examine them, we were covered 
with swarms of fleas and obliged to beat a retreat. 
The village had been abandoned by its inhabitants, 



316 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVL 

no donbt on account of tlieir huts being so much 
infested with these insects. 

Leaving the abandoned huts, we continued our 
way through the forest; and presently, within a 
distance of a quarter of a mile, we came on another 
village, composed, like the last, of about a dozen ill- 
constructed huts, scattered about, without any regular 
order, in a small open space. The dwellings had 
been newly made, for the branches of trees of which 
they were formed had still their leaves on them, 
quite fresh. We approached with the great-est cau- 
tion, in order not to alarm the wild inmates, my 
Ashango guides holding up a bunch of beads in a 
friendly way; but all our care was fruitless, for the 
men, at least, were gone when we came up. Their 
flight was very hurried. We hastened to the huts, 
and luckily found three old women and one young 
man, who had not had time to run away, besides 
several children, the latter hidden in one of the huts. 

The little holes which serve as doors to the huts 
were closed by fresh-gathered branches of trees, with 
their foliage, stuck in the ground. My Ashango 
guides tried all they could to calm the fears of the 
trembling creatures ; telling them that I had come to 
do them no harm, but had brought some beads to 
give them. I finally succeeded in approaching them, 
for fear seemed to have paralysed their powers of 
moving. I gave them some beads, and then made 
my Ashango guides tell them that we should come 
back the next day with more beads, to give some to 
all the women ; so they must all be there. One of 
the old women, in the course of a short time, lost all 



Chap. XVI. THE DWAKF KACE. 317 

her shyness and began to ridicule the men for having 
run away from us. She said they were as timid as 
the nchende (squirrel), who cried ''Que, que," and 
in squeaking she twisted her little body into odd 
contortions, with such droll effect that we all laughed. 

When I brought out my tape to measure her, her 
fears returned ; thinking perhaps that it was a kind 
of snake that I was uncoiling out of its case, she 
trembled all over ; I told her I was not going to 
kill her, but it required another present to quiet her 
again. I accomplished my task at last. I also 
measured the young man, who was adult, and pro- 
bably a fair sample of the male portion of his race. 

We then returned to Niembouai. I had waited an 
hour, in the vain hope that the men might come 
back to their huts. By the way, the Obongo women 
seem to know how to tell lies as well as their country- 
women of larger growth ; for when I inquired where 
the rest 'of the people were, they at once replied that 
they were gone into the forest to fetch firewood and 
to trap game. -V-^ 

The next day (July 1st) I went again to their 
village, and saw only one woman and two children. 
I had not come early enough, the birds had flown. 
Luckily the woman was one of those I had seen the 
day before. I gave her and the children a number 
of beads. Then suspecting that the mother of the 
children was in the hut close by where they stood, 
I went to it, took off the branch that had been put 
at the entrance to signify that the owner was out, 
and then putting half of my body into the hut, in 
the best way I could, I finally succeeded in seeing 



318 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

in the dark something which soon after I recognised 
as a human being. My Ashango man called to her, 
telling her not to be afraid. I was then told that 
she had lost her husband a few days before, when 
they lived in the now deserted village which I had 
seen on my way hither. She had over her forehead 
a broad stripe of yellow ochre. 

I desired my Ashango guide to ask the women 
where they buried their dead ; but he told me I had 
better not ask the question, as they might get fright- 
ened, and the woman who had just lost her husband 
might cry. 

I gave the poor widow some beads, and then left 
II them again ; my old friend Misounda (for she told 

me her name) inviting me to come back in the after- 
noon, as the men would then have returned from the 
woods. I accordingly returned in the course of the 
afternoon, but no men were to be seen. 

On a subsequent visit, I found the village deserted 
by the women as well as by the men — at least, as we 
approached it, the women, who had heard us, ran 
into their huts; among them I caught sight of my 
old friend Misounda running to hide herself. This 
was doubly disappointing, as I had flattered myself 
that I had quite tamed her. When we entered the 
village not a sound was to be heard, and the branches 
of the trees had been put up at the doors of all the 
huts, to make us believe that the people had all gone 
into the woods. My Ashango guide shouted aloud, 
" We have come to give you more beads ; where are 
you ? " Not a whisper was heard, no one answered 
our call ; but there was no room for any mistake, as 



Chap. XVI. 



MEASUKEMENT OF OBONGOS. 



319 



we had seen the women enter the huts. I therefore 
went to the hut of my old friend, Misounda, took off 
the branch, and called her by name, but there was 
no answer. It was so dark inside that I could see 
nothing ; so I entered, and tumbled over the old 
woman. Finding that she was detected, she camo 
out, and pretended that she had been fast asleep. 
Then she called out the other women, saying that I 
was not a leopard come to eat them, and that they 
need not be afraid. 

In the course of other visits which I made ta the 
village during my stay at Niembouai, I succeeded in 
measuring five other women. I could not help laugh- 
ing, for all of them covered their faces with their 
hands ; and it was only in the case of Woman No. 1 
that I could get any measurements of the face. Un- 
fortunately I could not take the same measurements 
for all. I did the best I could under such circum- 
stances. In order to allay their fears, I tried to 
measure one of my Ashango guides, but he refused, 
being as much frightened as the women. The mea- 
surements are as follows : — 



x- 



Woman No. 1, total height 

between the outer angles of the eyes 

No. 2, total height 

No. 3, considered unusually tall 

round the broadest part of the head 

from the eye to the ear 

No. 4, total height 4 

round the head 1 

from the eye to the ear 

No. 5, total height 5 

round the head 1 

from the eye to the ear 

No. 6, total height 4 

round the head 1 

from the eye to the ear 

Young man, total height 4 



Ft. 

4 



4 

5 

1 



In. 
^ 

71 
0| 

4 
8 
10 
3f 

9 

41 
5 

4^ 
C 



320 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

The colour of these people was a dirty yellow, much 
lighter than the Ashangos who surround them, and 
their eyes had an untameable wildness about them 
that struck me as very remarkable. In their whole 
appearance, physique, and colour, and in their habita- 
tions, they are totally unlike the Ashangos, amongst 
whom they live. The Ashangos, indeed, are very 
anxious to disown kinship with them. They do not 
intermarry with them ; but declare that the Obongos 
intermarry among themselves, sisters with brothers, 
doing this to keep the families together as much as 
they can. The smallness of their communities, and 
the isolation in which the wretched creatures live, 
must necessitate close interbreeding; and I think it 
very possible that this circumstance may be the cause 
of the physical deterioration of their race. Their 
foreheads are exceedingly low and narrow, and they 
have prominent cheek bones ; but I did not notice 
any peculiarity in their hands or feet, or in the posi- 
tion of the toes, or in the relative length of their 
arms to the rest of their bodies ; but their legs ap- 
peared to be rather short in proportion to their 
trunks ; the palms of their hands seemed quite white. 
The hair of their heads grows in very short curly 
tufts ; this is the more remarkable, as the Ashangos 
and neighbouring tribes have rather long bushy 
hair on their heads, which enables them to dress it 
in various ways ; with the Obongos the dressing 
of the hair in masses or plaits, as is done by the 
other tribes, is impossible. The young man had an 
unusual quantity of hair also on his legs and breast, 
growing in short curly tufts similar to the hair of the 
head, and all the accounts of the Ashangos which I 



Chap. XVL DEESS AND HABITS OF THE OBONGOS. 321 

heard agreed in this, that the Obongo men were 
thickly covered with hair on these parts of their body ; 
besides, I saw myself, during the course of my stay 
at Niembouai on my return, male Obongos in the 
village, and although they would not allow me to 
approach them, I could get near enough to notice 
the small tufts of hair : one of the men was black. 
The only dress they wear consists of pieces of grass- 
cloth which they buy of the Ashangos, or which 
these latter give them out of pure kindness, for I 
observed that it was quite a custom of the Ash- 
angos to give their old worn denguis to these poor 
Obongos. 

The modes of burial of these savages, as related to 
me by my Ashango companions, are curious. The 
most common habit is to place the corpse in the 
interior of a hollow tree in the forest, filling up the 
hole with branches and leaves mixed with earth ; but 
sometimes they make a hole in the bed of a running 
stream, diverting the current for the purpose, and 
then, after the grave is covered in, turning back the 
rivulet to its former course. 

The Ashangos like the presence of this curious 
people near their villages because the Obongo men 
are very expert and nimble in trapping wild animals 
and fish in the streams, the surplus of which, after 
supplying their own wants, they sell to their neigh- 
bours in exchange for plaintains, and also for iron 
implements, cooking utensils, water-jars, and all 
manufactured articles of which they stand in need. 
The woods near their villages are so full of traps and 
pitfalls that it is dangerous for any but trained woods- 



322 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

men to wander about in tliem ; I always took care 
not to walk back from tbeir village to Niembouai 
after nigbt-fall ; for in tlie path itself there were 
several traps for leopards, wild boars, and antelopes. 
From the path, traps for monkeys could be seen 
everywhere : and I should not at all have relished 
having my legs caught in one of these traps. 1 
was surprised at the kindness, almost the tender- 
ness, shown by the Ashangos to their diminutive 
neighbours. On one of my visits to the village I saw 
about a dozen Niembouai women, who had come with 
plantains to exchange for game, which they expected 
to be brought in by the men. As the little hunters 
had not returned from tho forest, they were disap- 
pointed in this errand ; but seeing that the Obongo 
women were suffering from hunger, they left nearly 
all the plantains with them as a gift, or, perhaps, on 
trust, for outside the hut they were cooking roots of 
some tree, which did not seem to me very nourishing. 
The Obongos, as I have said before, never remain 
long in one place. They are eminently a migratory 
people, moving from place to place whenever game 
becomes scarce. But they do not wander very far ; 
that is, the Obongos who live within the Ashanga 
territory do not go out of that territory — they are 
called the Obongos of the Ashangos — those who live 
among the Njavi are called Obongo-Njavi — and the 
same with other tribes. Obongos are said to exist 
very far to the east, as far, in fact, as the Ashangos 
have any knowledge. They are similar to the gypsies 
of Europe — -distinct from the people amongst whom 
they live, yet living for generations within the con- 



Chap. XVI. SHYNESS OF THE OBONGOS. 323 

fines of the same country. They plant nothing, and 
depend partly for their vegetable food on roots, 
berries, and nuts, which they find in the forest ; 
indeed, the men spend most of their days and many 
of their nights in the woods, and it was partly on 
this account, and their excessive shyness, that I was 
unable to examine them closely, with the solitary 
exception of the young man above described. When 
they can no longer find wild animals in the locality 
where they have made their temporary settlements, 
they are sometimes apt to steal food from their more 
civilized neighbours, and then decamp. Their appe- 
tite for animal food is more like that of a carnivo- 
rous beast than that of a man. One day I enticed 
the old woman, whose heart I had gained by many 
presents of beads, to Niembouai, simply by promis- 
ing her a joint of goat-flesh. I had asked her if she 
was hungry — without answering me, she drew a 
long breath, drawing in her stomach, to make me 
understand that it was very empty. When she 
came, I tried to put her off with a bunch of plan- 
tains, but she stuck tenaciously to my hut until I 
had fulfilled my promise of giving her some meat, 
repeating the word, etava^ etava (goat, goat). Through 
her and an Ashango interpreter I took down a few 
words of the Obongo language, which I add in the 
Appendix to this volume ; it will be seen that it con- 
tains words of Ashango; indeed their dialect is a 
mixture of what was their own original language 
and the languages of the various tribes among whom 
they have resided for many years past. I was told 
that now and then one of them will leave his people, 



324 ASHANGO-LAND Chap. XVI. 

and come and live among the Ashangos. My guides 
were kind enough to inform me that, if I wanted to 
buy an Obongo, they would be happy to catch one 
for me. 

July Ath. I find that palavers are common in the 
Ashango country. A man of Niembouai had been 
put in ncliogo by the men of another village, on 
account of some palaver; and the people of the 
other village now came to Niembouai to see if the 
palaver could not be settled, " For," said they, " you 
men of Niembouai are rich, now that you have the 
Spirit with you." Several elders spoke on each side, 
each one trying to speak louder than the one who 
had preceded him. Finally, the chief of Niembouai 
gave the complainant a string of the large beads I 
had presented to him. 

Then another Ashango came, bringing a slave to 
his father-in-law in Niembouai, in payment for the 
daughter he had given him in marriage : the speeches 
on the occasion of the presentation of the slave lasted 
about three hours. 

On another occasion, an Ishogo came to get a 
slave in repayment of a Neptune he had trusted to a 
friend at Niembouai,* and got into a furious rage, 
on finding that no slave was forthcoming. He pro- 
tested loudly that he was tired of being put off, and 
that he was not going to be cheated of his Neptune. 

My astronomical observations at this place, un- 
fortunately were not all noted down in my journal. 
I see by my memoranda, that on the 1st and 4th of 

* A Ne;pt\me is a brass dish worth 3s. Qd. to 4s. 



Chap. XVI. NEW ASHANGO PORTERS. 325 

July I took the distances between tlie Moon and 
Jupiter ; on the 4tli, the weather became cloudy, 
and I failed in taking the observations I had hoped 
to have obtained. When the moon, the planet 
Saturn, and the star Spica were sufficiently low in 
the heavens to be taken with the artificial horizon, 
the sky was too cloudy to permit of the observation. 

July bth We were delayed three more days in 
Niembouai through the illness of Ngoma, one of my 
Commi boys. I paid the new Ashango porters on 
the 2nd, and had some difficulty in getting them 
away after the two days' delay without giving them 
more.* With them departed Mokounga. 

We started at ten a.m., led by Magouga, an in- 
j3uential man of Niembouai, whose guest I had been 
during my stay here. The path gradually descended 
into the valley of the Ouano, a river which falls into 
the Odiganga. I found on reaching its banks, about 
three miles east of Niembouai, that we Had descended 
more than 600 feet, the altitude being 1285 feet. 

* The names of my Ashango porters were as follows : — 





Magouga — Head man, 




Adoombo, 


Mayombon (the 


2nd), 


Mokela, 


Mayombon, 


Moushagou, 




Madoungou, 


Bishelo, 


Ibalo, 




Maniaga, 


Moquangud, 


Dibako, 




Mamague', 


Divangui, 


Dishelo, 




Badinga, 


Moshelekai, 


Bengoiiin, 




Mayoubon. 



Besides these we had eight porters to carry the loads of my Commi men 
and a varying number followed to carry the provisions and kettles ; but I 
omitted to take their names. We had also generally with us three or four 
old fellows who followed us from village to village, expecting to feed well 
on the road, and at the end of a few days to get something for speech- 
making ; for they thought they helped me wonderfully in this way. 



326 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

The Ouano was about 30 or 40 yards wide, and too 
deep to be forded. 

We crossed this stream by a singular kind of 
ferry. The boat or raft was formed of two logs of 
light wood, fifteen feet long, and a flooring of laths, 
tied by their ends to the logs, so as to form a rude 
vessel four or ^ve feet broad. The boat was pro- 
pelled by the ferrymen across the current, and, to 
prevent its being swept down stream, it was attached, 
by means of a stout creeper looped at the end, to a 
rope stretched between trees across the river. Up- 
right sticks were fixed in the side-beams of the raft 
for the standing passengers to hold on by. Our 
party were transported across the stream by means 
of this contrivance in five journeys. In the rainy 
season, when the current is very strong, this ferry 
must be very useful. I had never before seen a 
ferry of this kind in Africa. 

About one p.m. we crossed a high hill called Mog- 
iama, the summit of which was 2264 feet above the 
sea-level. Soon after, we passed a small Ashango 
plantation, with a few huts on its borders and 
patches of the wild tobacco-plant and of the hemp. 
The tenants of the huts had fled at our approach, 
and we cooked our dinner at the forsaken fires of the 
settlement. My Ashango porters insisted upon kill- 
ing their goat here. When I asked them why they 
had not killed and eaten it at Niembouai, they 
replied that they were afraid their own people would 
have asked them for some of the meat. I then 
asked them why they did not wait until we had 
reached the village to which we were going. Their 



Chap. XVI. VILLAGE OF MONGOK 327 

reply was the same — the people there also would ask 
them for some of the meat. They succeeded in eat- 
ing the whole of the goat at one meal ; after which 
they came to me saying, "You see we have eaten 
the whole of it. Ashango people have big stomachs 
— we do not want any one to help us to eat the 
goats that you will give us. It is a bore that people 
cannot be allowed to eat their meals in quiet, without 
others coming to ask them for some of the food." I 
could not help laughing ; for these very fellows had 
been plaguing my men at Niembouai every time we 
killed a goat ; and they used to make such a terrific 
noise, praising the meat, and begging for some of it, 
that I often had to come out of my hut, and drive the 
whole lot of them away. 

The country continued very hilly, and we made 
detours to avoid the steep ascents. At length, a little 
before the sun set, we reached the village of Mongon. 
Many of my porters had relatives here, and we were 
received in a friendly manner. We passed the night 
in the village, and I was fortunate enough to take 
several lunar observations, which gave 12° 3' 37" E. 
long., and I found the latitude to be 1° 56' 45" S. 
I was only able to take one meridian altitude ; but it 
was a very successful one, and may be relied upon. 
The place is the most elevated I have yet found, 
being 2488. feet above the sea-level. I was glad to 
find we had made a little northing during the day's 
march. 

July Qtli. I had great difficulty in getting my men 
away this morning. They wanted to spend the day 
idling and drinking with their friends, who had 



328 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XYL 

given them a fat goat to present to me tliat I might 
consent to the delay ; but I made a firm stand 
against these manoeuvres, and forced the porters to 
take up their loads by pointing my revolver at their 
heads, while I took old Magouga by the arm, and led 
him forward. We left at about eight a.m., and after 
two hours' march arrived at a small village called 
Mongo, where we stopped for breakfast. 

The importunities of the villagers and their chief 
delayed us here nearly three hours. I was getting 
annoyed at these repeated delays, for, at this rate of 
travel, when should I get to the Nile ? It was now 
nearly a year since I left the coast. At last, I told 
the chief that if he was so fond of me I would tie 
him with ropes and carry him with us ; we were 
allowed, after this, to depart without further trouble. 
Of course I refused the proffered goat ; for it is an 
universal rule with these tribes that, a present being 
received by a stranger from the villagers, he is bound 
to make some stay in the place. The refusal of the 
present of food is a token that you do not wish to 
remain, and hence the pertinacity of these people in 
trying to force goats and so forth upon us, when we 
are passing a village. After an hour's march we 
were again brought to a stand-still, by the porters 
laying down their loads and demanding more pay. 
This was the Ishogo scene over again, and terminated 
in the same manner, by the vigorous measure of bring- 
ing my Commi men up with the muzzles of their 
guns levelled at the heads of the offenders, followed 
by their sudden repentance, and their laughing over 
the affair, as usual, saying, " Let us stop a while and 




AN AFRICAN GROUP, NOW AT WIMBLEDON. 



Chap. XYL VILLAGE OF NIEMBOUAI OLOMBA. 329 

have a smoke. Do you tlaink we would leave you 
in the woods ? People may be left in a village but 
not in the forest." 

About four p.m. we reached the village called 
Niembouai Olomba, or '' Further Niembouai," to 
distinguish it from the other place of the same name 
which I will call Niembouai West for the sake of 
distinction. We had made but eight miles in a 
direct line in four hours' march ; but the road lies 
over a succession of hills and narrow valleys, every- 
where thickly wooded ; and travelling is most toil- 
some, heavily-laden as we all were. 

We were received with great joy by the chief, 
who is the " father," head chief, or king of this clan 
of Ashangos. Houses were allotted to us ; presents of 
goats and plantains were laid at my feet; and I was 
glad to find that the old chief had not run away. 
He had one of the mildest expressions of face I ever 
saw ; was tall, and about 60 years old. Of the two 
goats he gave me, I gave one to my Ashango porters. 
As they went away with it, I heard one say, " We 
did not know that he would give us one!" This 
plan of feeding my porters well has a very good 
effect on the villagers, and helped me in the difficult 
task of getting fresh porters. 

The people of Niembouai Olomba were shy, but 
many of them had seen me at Niembouai West. 
Like all the villages in these mountains, it is sur- 
rounded with groves of plantain-trees. Goats are 
very abundant, and the goat-houses are scattered 
here and there throughout the village. Swallows 
were flying over the streets, and numerous birds 
23 



330 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

were singing, perched on the surrounding tall trees, 
behind the plantain-groves. In the street of the 
village is seen, now and then, the stump of an old 
tree, which time has not been able to destroy : for 
here, wherever the people settle or plant, the trees 
have to be cut down, and the stump and roots are 
left to perish by the action of time. Membouai 
Olomba is a large village containing about 184 
houses. Formerly this and Niembouai West con- 
stituted one town (i.e., the population all lived in 
one place), and it must have been then a very large 
village for this part of Africa. Nearly all the houses 
have bee-hives fixed to the walls, and the honey is 
beautifully white and well-flavoured. Wax is very 
abundant in Ashango-land, and of a fine quality; 
as it is not used by the natives,, it will probably 
become a valuable article of export at some future 
day. I was struck with the simplicity of construc- 
tion of the bee-hives ; they were made simply of the 
bark of trees, rolled up so as to form a cylinder, thus 
imitating a hollow tree in which bees make their 
hives in the wild state. The ends of the cylinder are 
closed with pieces of bark, in which holes are made 
for the entrance and the exit of the bees ; wooden 
hoops are fixed at each extremity to keep the cylin- 
der in shape. 

Although the Ashangos are certainly quite a dis- 
tinct tribe from the Ishogos, for they speak a different 
language, I do not notice any striking difference in 
their appearance or habits. Their language, as I 
have said before, is the same as that of the Ashira. 
In one particular they contrast advantageously with 



Chap. XVI. CUSTOMS OF THE ASHANGOS. 331 

the tribes nearer the coast, namely in the amplitude 
of their clothing. All are well clothed with the 
beautiful grass-cloth of the country. I did not even 
see any naked children. The denguis or robes of 
chiefs are of unusually large size, and are worn gene- 
rally very gracefully. They seem to tattoo them- 
selves rather more than the Ishogos do ; and the 
women do not pierce their ears for ear-ornaments ; 
their head-dress is the same as that of the Ishogo 
women, but they do not seem to take so much care 
of it. Although the streets of the Ishogo villages 
were broader, the houses of the Ashangos are larger 
than those of their neighbours. Both tribes adopt 
the custom of taking out their two middle upper 
incisors, and of filing the other incisors to a point ; 
but the Ashangos do not adopt the custom of filing 
also the upper incisors. Some of the women have 
the four upper incisors taken out. They submit to 
this process, in order to be considered the leading 
belles of the village. All of them, both male and 
female, shave off' their eyebrows and pluck out their 
eyelashes, and both tribes smear themselves with 
ntchingo, or red powder. 

Beating the women is here of very rare occur- 
rence, I am told; and I have not, myself, seen a 
single case of woman-beating. In fact, the women 
have their own way, in many things. Almost every 
Ashango carries a sword, made by the Shimba and 
Ashangui tribes. When a sword is sold, the business 
is always transacted en famille. Their other weapons 
are spears and poisoned arrows. They do not make 
any iron here, but get it from tribes further east. 



332 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

They have the repntation of being more quarrelsome 
than the Ishogos, and of being greater Hars. This 
sin of lying is, unfortunately, thought of little matter 
in this part of the world. They are not drunkards, 
like the Aponos, though palm-trees are abundant 
throughout the district, and they drink the palm 
wine, but in moderation. They know also how to 
extract oil from the nuts of the oil palm-tree, which 
is here very abundant. 

July 7th, Niembouai Olomba lies at the foot of a 
fine wooded hill, on a ridge between two deep narrovf 
valleys or gorges, one running east and west and 
the other north-east and south-west. The wind from 
the south blew cool and refreshing, both last night 
and this morning. At six a.m. the thermometer 
stood at 68*^ Fahr., with a clear sky and a bright 
sun. Along the deep valley towards the east I had 
a magnificent view of the rising sun. It was the 
happiest morning I had had for a long time, and I 
felt invigorated with the cool breeze, after the close 
heat of the forest-paths and crowded villages during 
the last few weeks. Towards two p.m. the sky be- 
came cloudy again. 

July Sth. Last night, as I was quietly lying on my 
bed, I was aroused by a rustling and scratching noise 
in the hut, and the flying of numerous cockroaches, 
some of them alighting on the back of my neck, 
which, by the way, produces one of the most un- 
pleasant sensations I know of. I knew it must be 
an invasion of Bashikouay ants, and started up and 
called my men. The active creatures were already 
on my bed, and I was lucky in making my escape 



Chap. XYI. BASHIKOUAY ANTS. 383 

without being half devoured by them. They were 
attracted, no doubt, by a quarter of goat's meat 
hanging in the chamber, for, unfortunately, my 
sleeping-room is obliged to be also my store-room. 
The men hastened to fetch hot ashes to spread over 
the floor, which was black with the shining bodies 
of these most destructive ants, who come to their 
work in dense masses. Had their progress not been 
checked they would have finished our goat-meat in 
a very short time, for they were already climbing 
the walls, and we had to sweep them down on the 
hot cinders, not daring to apply a torch to the wall 
of such a combustible edifice as an Ashango hut. 
After killing thousands in this manner the remainder 
were scared away, and I spent the rest of the night 
in peace. 

I have given an account of this ant in my ^Adven- 
tures in Equatorial Africa,' and have little to add 
regarding it in this place. But one can never cease 
to wonder at the marvellous habits and instincts of 
these extraordinary creatures, whose natural history 
is still but imperfectly known. The individuals 
which form the armies of the Bashikouays are only 
the worker or neuter caste of the species. It is well 
known that the males and females of ants, which 
alone propagate their kind, are winged, and take no 
part in the various kinds of industry which render 
ants such remarkable insects. The armies of the 
Bashikouays seem for ever on the march, clearing 
the ground of every fragment of animal substance, 
dead or alive, which they can obtain or overpower ; 
and, so furious are their onslaughts on the person of 



334 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XYI. 

any one wlio steps near their armies, tliat it is diffi- 
cult or impossible to trace the columns to their nests, 
if indeed they have any. The Bashikouays are of 
several distinct species; and, in each species, the 
workers or neuters are of many gradations of size 
and bulk, but all are of shining reddish or black 
colour, with heads of a square or oblong form. 
While on the march, they do not attack insects, only 
when they halt and then spread themselves out in 
foraging parties. 

In the afternoon I ascended one of the hills which 
form so grand a feature in the landscape close to Niem- 
bouai. An almost perpetual mist shrouds the summit 
of this hill, which is called Birogou Bouanga. By 
recording observations of the boiling-point and two 
aneroid-barometers at the summit, and striking the 
mean, I found the altitude to be 2574 feet above the 
sea-level. The leaves of the trees and bushes were 
quite wet at the summit, whilst below, near the vil- 
lage, the herbage was dry, showing the effect of the 
cap of mist or cloud which covers the hill-top. 

When I first spoke of going up the mountain, the 
villagers expressed themselves willing to go with 
me, and several promised to accompany me to the 
summit ; but, when I actually got ready to start, they 
declined to do so — their fellow- villagers telling them 
not to go with the Oguizi. I began to fear that I 
should not be able to accomplish the ascent. Finally, 
two of my porters from Niembouai West offered to go 
with me; then two of the villagers agreed to show 
us the path to the top. When we all reached the 
summit, the two villagers stared to see me bring out 



Chap. XYI. ASCENT OF MOUNT BIROGOU BOUANGA. 335 

my policeman's lantern, and screw my boiling-point 
thermometer to the kettle; but their astonishment 
was beyond measure when I produced instantaneous 
fire with a lucifer-match. They trembled all over, 
and became speechless. My two porters looked at 
them with evident contempt, saying, " You see now 
what kind of spirit we have brought to you." Gra- 
dually they got less frightened, and at last came close 
to me and watched my proceedings with manifest 
interest. 

From the summit of Birogou Bouanga I could see 
the country for many miles round. The mountains 
appeared to be, for the most part, of nearly equal 
height. Here and there, on the declivity of the hill 
round Niembouai Olomba, were large tracts of the 
forest that had been felled and partly cleared ; and, 
in the midst of fallen trees and dead branches, the 
beautiful leaves of the plantain-trees could be seen, 
with now and then a field of cassada or manioc, 
though this latter is getting very scarce. The plan- 
tain is almost the only staple of food here. Through 
the leaves of the plantain-trees peeped out the stem 
of the sugar-cane, which is here very abundant. I 
could see large tracts of ground-nuts. When meat 
is scarce the people pound the seed of the ground-nut 
trees and cook it in leaves, or simply roast it. Near 
the village were patches of the tobacco-plant and of 
the liamba (hemp). In the places where plantain- 
trees had been newly planted I often saw a kind of 
squash, the pounded seed of which is considered a 
great dainty. 

I had to-day a serious trouble with two of my 



336 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

Commi men, Mouitclii and Rapelina, slaves lent me 
by my friends Djombouai and Sholomba on the Fer- 
nand Yaz. They had lately become, I knew not 
why, discontented and troublesome, and were detected 
to-day in pilfering powder, bullets, and other articles, 
with the intention of laying in a store of ammunition 
before running away. Mouitchi was a lazy fellow, 
and his loss would not have been a very serious 
matter to me ; but it would not be prudent to lessen 
the numbers of my small party, and leave these 
Commi men in the interior. I was obliged to have 
them both disarmed, and^ after considering for some 
time, decided that it would be best to tell them they 
might go and find their way back to the coast, if they 
liked to try. The elders of Niembouai, when they 
saw I intended to dismiss the two men, treated the 
matter as a very serious one, and came to me to say 
that I could not be allowed to leave the men in the 
country in that way, but that I must name two of 
the elders of the place to be their protectors or 
masters. My object, however, was not to get rid 
of the men, but to show my displeasure at their 
misconduct ; and I thought the best way to do this 
was to pretend to be utterly indifferent whether they 
accompanied us any further or not^ for this would 
be likely to make them repent and beg to be taken 
back again. The event proved that I was not mis- 
taken : they left the village, but came back repentant 
the next day. 

July 12th, We did not leave Niembouai Olomba 
without trouble. First, my porters of Niembouai 
West wanted an increase of pay ; then the people 



Chap. XYL MORE TROUBLES. 337 

of NiemboTiai Olomba wanted them to leave me with 
them, and to go back to their own country, saying 
that they could take care of me. Magouga retorted 
that he also could take care of me. On their refer- 
ring the matter to me, in order to please both parties, 
I said I would take half my porters from Niembouai 
West, and the other half from Niembouai Olomba. 
I felt very much inclined to take only the men of 
Niembouai Olomba, as the others had shown signs 
of fear, having come to me two or three times, saying 
that they had heard that the people in the villages 
before us did not wish to see the Oguizi, and had 
sent word to that effect. 

When at length we started, Magouga and the chief 
of Niembouai Olomba were both with me ; and with 
Rebouka we formed the rear-guard of the caravan. 
I kept constantly on the alert, and took care always 
to make one of these two leading men walk before 
me, for, in so wild a country, one cannot be too 
careful. 

We were now on our march to the country of 
the Njavi tribe, who live to the east of Ashango- 
land. My Ashango porters were to convey me to 
the principal village of the Njavi, and I had hoped 
that all would go smoothly, now that we had left 
Niembouai and were again on the road. Unhappily, 
further troubles were in store for me. Several of the 
porters — taught, I am afraid, by my own mutinous 
servants Rapelina and Mouitchi — went on ahead, 
and, concealing themselves in the forest, let us pass 
them, and then made off to their own village. 
When we halted to rest the porters, I discovered 



338 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVL 

that several of them were missing. The absentees 
all belonged to Niembonai West. We waited for 
them, but in vain. Both they and their loads were 
gone. 

Being determined to check this new evil at its 
commencement, I ordered a halt near Mobana, and, 
seizing Magouga, placed three of my Commi men 
as guard o^er him, with orders to shoot him if he 
attempted to escape ; and I told him that I should 
not release him until the lost property was restored 
by the Niembouai porters under his leadership. In 
the meantime the old chief of Niembouai Olomba, 
with his people, came to me, and said, "I have 
nothing to do with this — here are all my people, 
here are all their loads. Why did you not take my 
people only ? We do not steal in my village." Soon 
the Mobana people, who had heard that we were 
near, and who are related by marriages to the people 
of Niembouai Olomba, came out to us, and asked us 
to come into their village, saying, " Why should the 
Oguizi remain in the woods, while there is a vil- 
lage near ? " 1 accordingly accepted their invitation, 
and proceeded to Mobana. 

The news of the robbery soon spread to Niem- 
bouai, and several of the elders, taking my part, set 
upon the thieves, who had run back to the village, 
hacked them with their swords, and sent back to me 
the three boxes they had carried off. This was not, 
however, till the following day ; meantime, it was a 
little reign of terror at Mobana, for none of us slept, 
having to keep watch all night with our loaded 
muskets over Magouga and the porters, who re- 



Chap. XVI. ROBBED BY THE ASHANGO POETERS. 339 

mained in our hands. On examining next morning 
the three boxes which had been plundered, I found 
that none of the articles they contained had been 
actually stolen ; but the contents of several bottles of 
medicine had been either drunk or poured away, and 
the empty bottles put back into their places. A 
quantity of arsenic was amongst the deficiencies, and 
I heard afterwards that some people of Niembouai 
had died mysteriously after touching the white man's 
goods. 

I believed, of course, that Magouga and the por- 
ters who had not run away were innocent of the 
theft, having had no connivance with the thieves; 
but the day after the property had been restored, 
I found, when I awoke in the morning, two of my 
boxes missing. They had been taken during the 
night out of the hut in which I slept, and which 
was divided into three compartments ; the innermost 
was the room in which I slept, and my stock of 
goods was put into the other two ; wooden doors 
have now become scarce, and the shutter was hardly 
good for anything, so that the thieves had come 
during the night without much difficulty, and had 
taken two boxes, which, fortunately, contained only 
salt, shot, some soap, arsenic, and a few beads. I 
immediately called Rakombo, the chief of Mobana, 
and accused him and his people of the theft. For 
three days the palavers lasted ; every day they came, 
saying they had stolen nothing; that the theft had 
been committed by some one they did not know. 
For three days palaver after palaver was held — they 
could not find the thieves. I could see from the sor- 



340 ASHAXGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 

rowful faces of Rakombo and of his people that they 
did not know really who had stolen these two boxes ; 
and they said if they only knew the village to which 
the things had been taken, they would go and seize 
some of their women. Suddenly I heard a tremen- 
dous uproar, and saw the people coming towards the 
hut where Magouga and some of his people were 
staying, and brandishing their swords and spears, 
and shouting, '' The Niembouai people have stolen 
the things." I had great trouble in saving Ma- 
gouga's life ; and my men had to lay hold of one 
or two of these raging warriors, and threaten to 
kill them if they injured Magouga. They shouted 
" Ibamba, we have nothing to do with you or with 
your people : it is only with these Niembouai people, 
who have brought shame on our village ! " 

It was some time before I could quiet the vil- 
lagers ; at length something like peace was restored, 
and, at night, Magouga and his men left me and 
returned to their homes, for fear of other palavers. 

Mobana is a large place, with houses like those of 
Niembouai. Numerous bee-hives hang against the 
houses or are scattered among the plantain-trees. 
Goats are plentiful ; some of them are of great size, 
and very fat. These generally form part of the 
dowry given when a woman is married. While at 
Mobana, I assisted at the departure of a young 
woman who had been given in marriage to a man 
of a neighbouring village. Her father was to take 
her there, with all the marriage outfit {trousseau, de 
mariage). It consisted of eight of the plates of the 
country, such as I have already. described ; two large 



Chap. XVI. DEPAKTUEE OF A BKIDE. 341 

baskets for carrying plantains from the plantations, 
or calabashes full of water from the spring ; a great 
number of calabashes ; a large package of ground- 
nuts ; a package of squash seeds ; two dried legs of 
antelope ; some fine nchandas (the name given to 
the denguis here), and her stool. Several members 
of her family carried this elaborate outfit. The 
bride-elect was smartly dressed ; her chignon had 
been built up most elaborately the day before. As 
she left the village, the people remarked to each 
other, " Her husband will see that the Mobana people 
do not send away their daughters with nothing ! " 

Her old mother accompanied her to the end of the 
street, and then returned to her home, looking proud 
and happy at having seen her daughter go with such 
an outfit. 

July Idth. Mobana is situated on the top of a high 
hill, at a height of 2369 feet above the level of the 
sea. The range, at the foot of which Niembouai is 
situated, is the highest of the four ranges, reckoning 
from the coast. From Mobana the land slopes down 
gradually towards the east. I here heard again of a 
large river further east. 

When we entered Mobana, the villagers wanted 
my men to smear themselves with ntcliingo or red 
powder, bringing for this purpose several of their 
wickerwork dishes, on which was placed a quantity 
of the pigment. This I found a general custom 
amongst the Ashangos when a host wishes to wel- 
come a guest ; and a visitor to a village or a house 
is only too happy when the elders or the owner of 
the house request him to make himself red, for it is a 



342 - ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XYL 

sign of their good will. As we were entering the 
village we met a Niembonai man coming out quite 
furious about something or other, and venting threats 
and curses ; on asking him what was the matter, he 
said that the Mobana people had not offer'ed him the 
ntchingo, and he was going back to the place whence 
he came. My men did not like this any more than 
other Ashango customs, and refused to smear them- 
selves. 

July ISth. Since I left Mongon I have only been 
able to take a single meridian altitude, the sky having 
been constantly clouded. I succeeded in taking one 
yesterday. I am very glad to find that I am getting 
a little to the north, while proceeding on my east- 
ward route. At the foot of the hill on which Mobana 
stands, there is a stream called Bembo, flowing in a 
north-easterly direction. The natives pointed towards 
the east when I inquired as to its further course. 

I have at last succeeded in hiring porters. Ra- 
kombo and his men have sworn to carry me to the 
Njavi country. The good old chief of Niembouai 
Olomba took his departure to-day, to return to his 
own village. I gave a parting present to him and 
to his men. Before he left me, he consigned me to 
the hands of Rakombo, charging him in due form 
with the care of me. 

The country, as far as I am able to see eastward 
and south-eastward, continues hilly, the hills being 
of moderate elevation. There are three paths from 
Mobana leading into the Njavi country ; one towards 
the north-east, one nearly due east, and a third 
south-east. Mobana is in 1° 52' 56'' S. lat. ; I was 



Chap. XVI. AERIYAL AT MOUAOU KOMBO. 343 

unable to take observations for longitude, but, by 
my dead reckoning, I place it in about 12° 27' E. 

July 21st, We were not able to resume our march 
until this morning.* We proceeded in an easterly 
direction, passing several villages, one of which was 
called Kombo ; and after a march of nearly four 
hours we reached the village of Mouaou Kombo. 

* I took down only a few of the names of our porters, which were as 
follows : — 

Head man, Eakomho, chief of the village. 
Nchanga, Iloko, Monbon, 

Banda, Matomba, Mondjo, 

Mayombo, Bembo, Mboga. 

Mobendai, Nbako, 



CHAPTER XYII. 

FATAL DISASTERS AT MOUAOU KOMBO. 

Unpromising state of affairs on arriving at Mouaon Kombo — Eakombo 
is threatened — Obstacles raised by tbe Villagers — Fair promises of the 
Chief — A Secret Meeting of the Villagers — Demands of the People — 
We leave the Village — Night Encampment in the Forest — Threats and 
Promises from the next Village — Invited to return to Mouaou — Kecon- 
ciliation — ^Arrival of a hostile Deputation from the next Village — 
— A man accidentally Shot. 

At tliis fatal village of Mouaou Kombo my eastward 
journey came to an end, and all my hopes of tra- 
versing Equatorial Africa, at least in the present 
expedition, were dashed to the ground. 

The first events on my arrival at the place were 
not encouraging ; but still the difficulties I encoun- 
tered were only of the ordinary sort which every 
African traveller meets with, and were nearly over- 
come, when the event happened which brought 
my further progress to an end. In the "first place, I 
found that Rakombo and his Mobana porters in- 
tended to break through their agreement to take 
me to the Njavi country. The Mouaou people be- 
longed to a different clan from the Mobanans, and 
there appeared not to be a cordial understanding 
although there had been a good many intermarriages 
between them. We had no sooner arrived at the 
village — the elders of which at first behaved well, 



Chap. XVn. UNPROMISma STATE OF AFFAIRS. 345 

giving me a large house to stay in — tlian tlie Mo- 
bana porters, having laid down their loads, gave ns 
the slip ; one by one, on some pretence or other, they 
sneaked off amongst the trees which surround the 
village, and we saw them no more. It was in vain 
that I threatened Rakombo. I could see nothing to 
enable me to fix the blame on him ; he declared that 
the Mouaou people would not allow him to take me 
onward. We were now left to the mer^y of strangers. 

On the second day after my arrival (July 23rd), 
the head chief, named Kombo, made his appearance, 
and gave me presents of goats and plantains to in- 
dicate that I was welcome ; then he called the vil- 
lagers together and made them a long speech, to 
the effect that the Niembouai and Mobana people 
having left the " Spirit " in their hands, it fell 
to their duty to take me onward to the Njavi 
country ; and that they were not to rob me, for, if 
they did, they would surely die, as had happened to 
the Niembouaians. It was then that I learnt that 
the thieves must have been tasting my arsenic, or 
had probably mixed it with the salt they had stolen, 
I soon made friends with the people, engaged porters 
and paid them, and all seemed to be going on well 
for a fresh start. 

There was an obstacle somewhere, however, for 
on the day following I found no signs of readiness 
for departure. The chief came to me, and explained 
that the men were obliged to go to the forest to cut 
firewood to leave with their wives. It is true that 
this is the custom of these people ; for, amongst the 
Ishogo and Ashango, the men on leaving their wives 
24 



346 FATAL DISASTEKS AT MOUAOU KOMBO. Chap. XVIL 

have to gather a sufficient quantity of firewood to 
last their families during their absence. Kombo. 
addressing himself to Igala — for, when holding a 
palaver, these people never address themselves 
directly to the person for whom the speech is in- 
tended — said, " I see by the look of the Oguizi that 
he thinks I am deceiving him, and that I lie : he 
must not judge me so harshly. A man may have 
a fine body, yet, if his heart is bad, he is an ugly 
man; therefore, if a man's heart is good, people 
should not look at his body. To-morrow the Oguizi 
will see whether I have a good heart or a bad heart : 
Kombo will take him to the Njavi country." 

In the afternoon the village street became de- 
serted. I walked down it, but could see no one. I 
called my men together ; Igala shook his head, and 
said that they were all gone to " mogoua oroungo " 
(hold a secret meeting), and that it boded no good. 

Such was indeed the case. When the meeting 
broke up all the men of the village assembled before 
my hut, and the chief began a long rambling speech, 
the purport of which was that I must give them 
more goods before I could leave the place. He said 
the Niembouai and Mobana people had left me be- 
cause they were unable to take me to the Njavi ; 
that he alone could help me forward, and I must 
therefore pay him at least as much as I had paid the 
people at the other places. He asked particularly for 
the pieces of a large brass kettle which I had broken 
yesterday, and also for many measures of gunpowder, 
which, as I have before explained, they wanted to 
barter for other articles with the Ashangui tribe. 



Chap. XVII. WE LEAVE THE VILLAGE. 347 

I had intended the precious fragments of my kettle 
as a parting present to the porters when they should 
have safely conveyed me to Njavi-land, and, being- 
irritated with the evidently underhand dealings of 
these fellows, I refused their request. The question 
of more pay was not, however, what had drawn 
the people to their secret meeting. The true cause 
of the meeting was the arrival of a deputation, 
from some villages further ahead, to threaten the 
Mouaou people with war if they came with me 
through their villages. The aim of the embarrassed 
Kombo was apparently to trifle with me with a 
view of gaining time, during which he might settle 
his outstanding palavers with the hostile villagers 
further on. 

The next day (July 25th), on finding there was 
no chance of our departure, I made up my mind to 
retire for a time from the village, and show my dis- 
pleasure in that way ; this being an efiective mode 
of bringing them to reason, for I knew they would 
come and humbly promise everything I wanted to 
induce me to come back to the village. To spurn the 
hospitality of a village, and retire offended from it, 
touches the primitive African in his tenderest feelings 
and stings him to the quick. I made all the porters 
return the pay in beads that I had given them, and 
then with my men transported my baggage to a dis- 
tance in the woods, on the borders of one of those 
beautifully clear streams which are so frequent in 
this mountainous region. The amount and weight of 
my baggage were still very great, and carrying the 
boxes was a work of great labour. The path down 



348 FATAL DISASTEKS AT MOUAOU KOMBO. Chap. XYII. 

to the place of our retreat was very steep, and, from 
what I could gather by a survey of our position, I 
found we should be on the main eastern road from 
Mouaou. The villagers looked on at our proceedings 
in mute amazement. 

Before evening the whole of the baggage was 
removed. My men erected sheds, and collected fire- 
wood to cook our supper. The place was a very 
pleasant one, under the shade of magnificent trees 
whose closely interwoven crowns would protect us 
from the night-mist, which dissolves in a soaking 
drizzle almost every night in this humid country. 
The path near our encampment was a broad and 
well-trodden one, showing that it was one of the 
highways of the district. 

As soon as we had finished, I sent Igala and two 
other men, well-armed, along the path to try to find 
the next village, and ascertain, if possible, why they 
did not wish us to pass through. My messengers 
returned in about two hours, Igala laughing whilst 
describing to me the ignominious way in which the 
warriors of the village, armed to resist our progress, 
ran away at the sight of him and his two com- 
panions. The villagers told him that they had no 
quarrel with me, but had an old feud with the 
Mouaou people about two slaves that were owing to 
them, and that they were determined not to let them 
pass until the debt was paid. " If that is the case," 
said Igala, "why don't you come and fetch our luggage 
and take us on yourselves ? " To this they returned 
evasive answers ; they would call a council of the 
people to consider the matter, and give us an answer 



Chap. XYII. NIGHT ENCAMPMENT IN THE FOEEST. 349 

to-morrow, &c. &c. It was impossible to get at the 
truth of the case. How I wished I had an armed 
party, strong enough to force my way through the 
barriers which the caprice and trickery of these 
savages opposed to my progress ! With twenty men 
like Igala and Macondai, I would have set all these 
vapouring fellows at defiance, and have been half- 
way across the continent by this time. Before we 
laid down to rest I had branches cut from the trees 
and strewed all around our encampment, to prevent, 
by the noise and impediments they would cause, a 
nocturnal surprise, which I thought very likely to 
happen, for parties of men from time to time sneaked 
through the woods, and, after talking to us and tak- 
ing note of our position, quietly went back again. 
They were armed with bearded spears similar to 
those carried by the Fans, and which they get from 
the Ashangui tribe. I did not sleep all night. My 
negroes kept watch, taking it in turns, three sleeping 
and three waking, and I made them tell stories one 
after the other, speaking loud, so as to show the 
people we were awake and watchful. 

July 26th, Early in the morning, as I had ex- 
pected, a deputation from Mouaou, consisting of all 
the elders of the village, came to me, and with sor- 
rowful countenances asked why I had deserted them. 
They prayed me to come back, and repeated that it 
was not their fault that my journey had been delayed, 
but the fault of the next village ahead. They pro- 
mised earnestly that if I came back they would 
send me forward in two days^ and by another route, 
to the south-east, so as to avoid the hostile villages, 



350 FATAL DISASTERS AT MOUAOU KOMBO. Chap. XVII. 

the people of wliicli, they said, had made up their 
minds now to take me, but had laid a plan to leave 
me in the middle of the forest and run away with the 
baggage. They assured me that there were three 
roads from this place to the Njavi country — one to 
the north-east, one to the east, and a third to the 
south-east. 

As the promised answer did not come from the 
other village, and the Mouaou elders seemed to be 
sincere in their repentance, I agreed to go back. 
In a few moments all my baggage was shouldered by 
strong men, and, with shouts of rejoicing, we marched 
up the hill to the village. All the population was 
then out to receive us. The chief came in state^ with 
his countenance painted and his royal bell ringing, 
and, after repeating what the elders had said, made 
us presents of goats and plantains. Soon after, the 
konde or head wife of the chief came to tell us that 
she was cooking a large pot of the koa root for me 
and my men, and all went pleasantly. The villagers 
were thoroughly sincere this time, and I felt happy, 
for there were not likely to be any more obstacles 
in my way before arriving in the Ashangui country, 
on the banks of the large river, which every one was 
now telling me of, and which I supposed to be the 
Congo. I had heard that in one day we should get 
through the districts on this side of the Ashangui 
country ; that, in a few hours after leaving Mouaou 
Kombo we should be among the Njavi tribe ; and 
that we could, in the same day, pass through the 
country of the Abombos. 

Alas ! the joy was soon turned into terror ! Four 



Chap. XVII. A MAN ACCIDENTALLY SHOT. 351 

men from tlie hostile village, arrayed in warrior's 
attire and brandishing plantain-leaves over their 
heads, came in. They said they had held their 
palaver this morning and had decided not to let the 
Oguizi pass; there would be war if the Mouaou 
people attempted to bring me. 

Kombo, who was seated by my side, told me to 
hide myself in my hut, so as not to give the strangers 
the pleasure of seeing me ; he then ordered my men 
to make a demonstration with their guns to intimi- 
date these vapouring warriors. I laughed as I saw 
the men taking to their heels as soon as Igala 
advanced towards them, firing his gun in the air. 
But my men got excited, and hurrying forward into 
the open space to jBre their guns in the air, one of 
the weapons loaded with ball went off before the 
muzzle was elevated. I did not see the act; but, 
immediately after the report of the guns, I was 
startled to see the Mouaou villagers, with affrighted 
looks and shouts of alarm, running in all directions. 
The king and his konde, who were both near me, 
fled along with the rest. 

'' Mamo ! Mamo ! " (the untranslatable cry of an- 
guish of these poor Africans) was now heard on all 
sides. I rushed out, and not far from my hut saw, 
lying on the ground, the lifeless body of a negro ; his 
head shattered and the brains oozing from his broken 
skull. Igalo ran to me with terrified looks, saying, 
**0h, Chaillie, I could not help it ; the gun went offl" 
The infallible consequences of the deed flashed across 
my mind. The distrust of my motives amongst these 
people, which had only just been overcome, would 



352 FATAL DISASTEES AT MOTJAOU KOMBO. Chap. XVII. 

now return with redoubled force. They would make 
common cause with the enraged warriors of the 
neighbouring villages ; hundreds of men armed 
with poisoned spears and arrows, would soon be 
upon us. I called to the king to come back and not 
be afraid ; but already the war drums were beating. 
Kombo shouted : " You say you come here to do no 
harm and do not kill people; is not this the dead 
body of a man ? " As it was out of the question our 
trying to make our way eastward, without goods and 
without escort, there was no help for it but to flee 
back to the Ishogo country as fast as we could. 

I got my men together, seven in number, and gave 
a few hasty directions about the baggage with which 
our hut was filled. I did not know what to do. The 
thought flashed across my mind that it would be best 
to set fire to the hut and escape in the confusion ; but 
I dreaded the further sacrifice of life that might be 
caused by the explosion of so much gunpowder. Our 
main purpose now was to get away on the forest path 
before the warriors, who would otherwise impede our 
advance and rouse other villages ahead. Ammuni- 
tion was what was most necessary to us now ; I 
served out a good supply of bullets and powder 
to each man ; loaded some of them with my most 
valuable articles, my journals, photographs, natural 
history specimens, and a few of my lighter goods, 
and took, for my share of the burdens, ^ve chrono- 
meters, a sextant, two revolvers, rifle, with another 
gun slung at my back, and a heavy load of ammuni- 
tion. " Now boys," I said, " keep together, do not 
be afraid, and do not fire until I give the order ; if 



Chap. XVII. BEAVERY OF THE BODY-GUARD. 353 

it is Grod's will that we should die, we must die ; but 
let us try our best, and we may reacb the sea in 
safety ! " I was afraid a panic would seize them, and 
all would be lost; but the brave lads, although 
struck with horror, and fully comprehending the 
gravity of the situation, stood their ground. 



CHAPTEK XVIIL 



EETEEAT FEOM ASHANGO-LAND. 

A Palaver proposed to settle tlie Death of the Man — ^A Woman killed — 
The War Cry ! — Eetreat commenced — Igala and myself wounded with 
Poisoned Arrows — Narrow Escape of Macondai and Eehouka — We are 
closely pursued hy the Natives — Collections and Note-hooks thrown 
into the Bush — We make a Stand — Two Men Shot — Pursuit continued 
— I am wounded a second time — Igalo shoots the Bowman — We make 
another Stand — Cross the Bemho — Pass Mobana — Still pursued — ^Make 
a final Stand — The Pursuers driven off at last — A Halt — The Party 
all collected together — Sleep in the Forest — ^Night-March through 
Niemhouai — Friendly Conduct of the Head Chief — We are well 
received at a Plantation — Arrival of Magouga — We continue the March 
to Ishogo-land. 

For a moment there seemed a chance of the affair 
being patched up. Igala had explained, in shouting 
to the frightened Kombo and the elders, that it was 
all an accident, and that I would pay the value of 
twenty men in goods if they would listen to me. I 
had hurriedly taken out a quantity of beads and 
cloth and spread it on the ground in the middle 
of the street^ as the price of the life. One of the 
head men had even come forward, saying "it is 
good, let us hold the palaver." The war drums had 
ceased beating. But it was but a gleam of sunshine 
in the midst of a storm : at that moment a woman 
came rushing out of a hut, wailing and tearing 
her hair — the head wife of the friendly head man 



Chap. XYIII. EETREAT COMMENCED. 355 

had been also killed by the fatal bullet which, after 
killing the negro, had pierced the thin wall of her 
hut ! 

All this occupied only a few moments. A general 
shout arose of " war 1 " and every man rushed for 
his spear or his bow. I gave the order for the 
retreat ; for I saw at once that there Was no chance 
of peace, but that a deadly struggle was about to 
commence. Away we went ; Igala took the best of 
our remaining dogs, and led the van ; I bringing up 
the rear. It was not an instant too soon ; before we 
were well on the forest path leading from the village, 
a number of arrows were discharged at us; Igala 
was hit in the leg, and one of the missiles struck me 
on the hand, cutting through one of my fingers to 
the bone. Macondai and Eebouka, in leaving the 
village, narrowly escaped being transfixed with 
spears, and only succeeded in repelling their assail- 
ants by pointing their guns at them. If I had not 
stopped them from firing, they would have shot a 
number of them. Wild shouts, and the tramp of 
scores of infuriated savages close behind us, put us 
on our mettle. I shouted to my men not to fire, for 
we were in the wrong, and I told the villagers that 
we would not shoot them if they did not pursue us to 
the forest, but that if they followed us we should 
certainly kill them. My Commi boys behaved ex- 
ceedingly well ; they were cool and steady, and, 
keeping a firm line, we marched away through the 
street of the village. 

Our pursuers had the disadvantage that they were 
obliged to stop every time they wanted to shoot, to 



tt 



356 EETREAT FEOM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XYIII. 

adjust the arrow and take aim, and in the forest paths 
we were often out of sight round turnings in the road 
before they could dehver their shot. Moreover, their 
bravest men durst not come up to close quarters with 
us, although they often came near enough to make us 
hear their shouts of defiance ; they cried out that it 
was of no use our attempting to escape from them, 
that we did not know the road through the bush, and 
should never get out of it alive. They seemed to be 
most bitter against Igala, whom they called Malanga, 
cursing him and his mother in the most revolting 
style. '' You have tasted blood," they shouted out, 
" and your own blood must be shed." They dodged 
about, took short cuts through the jungle, and we 
were in constant fear lest some spear or arrow should 
come from behind the trees on our flanks, and finish 
us for good. Besides it would be impossible long to . 
keep up the pace at which we ran. After behaving 
so steadily at starting, a sudden and unaccountable 
panic seized my men when we were some distance on 
the road, and for about ten minutes no shouts of 
mine could make them stop. To lighten themselves 
they threw load after load into the bush, and it filled 
me with sorrow to see my precious photographs, in- 
struments^ stuffed animals, note-books, route-maps, 
bottles of choice specimens in spirits, and other 
valuables, such as mementos of friends, scattered 
about the path, the toil of months irrecoverably lost. 
After we had run some four or five miles, finding 
that our enemies still pursued us, I felt that it was 
time to make a stand and give them a specimen of 
our power, for if we allowed them to go on in this 



Chap. XYHT. WE MAKE A STAND. 357 

way there would be danger of their rousing against 
us the villagers ahead, and then it would be almost 
impossible to escape. I ordered a halt. Mouitchi, 
one of our number, was missing, and we concluded 
he had fallen a victim ; our pursuers, before we left 
the village, had shouted to us that they had killed 
him ; poor Igala, my best and bravest man, com- 
plained sorely of the wound in his leg. He believed 
the lance was poisoned, and said, " I shall die, 
Chaillie, and shall never see my daughter again ! " 
There was time only for a few words of encourage- 
ment; our pursuers were in sight, and a number of 
men were threading the jungle apparently with a 
view of flanking us. I shouldered my long-range 
rifle, a splendid weapon made by Beckwith, and, as 
the leader advanced adjusting his bow, I fired. His 
right arm dropped broken and powerless by his side, 
and the next man behind fell with a crash amongst a 
mass of fallen leaves and branches. Rebouka also 
fired at a man in the bush, who disappeared sud- 
denly, as if shot, down a steep bank. This served 
as a check for the present, and we jogged on more 
leisurely. 

We had not gone far when a tumultuous shouting 
was heard behind us and a large number of warriors 
hove in sight, more furious than ever. The path 
was most difficult, over one steep hill after another, 
and the village of Mobana, likely to be hostile to us, 
was only about a mile from us. We increased our 
speed, but our pursuers were within range, and a 
paralysing thud, accompanied by a sharp pain, told 
me that I had been again struck. This time it was 



358 EETEEAT FEOM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVIH. 

in my side ; I had no time to stop to take tlie arrow 
out, and the barbed head having gone through the 
leather belt of mj revolvers, the point was working 
in my flesh every step I took, causing the most acute 
torture. Had its force not been arrested by the 
resistance of the leather, it would probably have 
killed me. After I was struck, Igalo, the unfor- 
tunate cause of all our woe, who kept close by me 
during our flight, turned round and by a quick and 
well directed shot laid the too-skilful bowman low. 
The unfeigned sorrow and devotion of my men at 
this juncture were most gratifying to me. I was 
getting weak from loss of blood, and a burning thirst 
was tormenting me. They asked what was to become 
of them if I should die ? I told them to keep to- 
gether, come what might; and, if they escaped, to 
deliver all my journals and papers to the white men. 
Wherever we stopped for a few minutes during this 
disastrous day, they came round me and asked me 
how I felt, and what they could do for me. 

After I was wounded my strength began to fail 
me, and I had myself to follow the example of my 
men in throwing away things to lighten the load 
I carried. To my great sorrow I had to throw into 
the bush my beautiful double-barrelled breech-loading 
rifle, a magnificent weapon, carrying a two and a 
half ounces steel-pointed ball. My sorrow was the 
greater inasmuch as it was a present from a dear 
friend of mine, Mr. Gr. Bishop of Twickenham. 

We were still pursued, and another check was 
necessary. Igala said, ''I know I am going to die, 
but let me kill a few of these fellows first." He 



Chap. XYHI. STILL PUESUED. 359 

concealed himself behind a tree, whilst we continued 
forward to draw on the men, for we had fomid that 
the tactics of onr pursuers was to send to the van 
their most expert bowmen to get as near to us as 
they safely could, while the rest of them remained 
behind, shouting loudly, to make us believe that they 
were all far off. The foremost was not long in 
coming within Igala's range, who fired, and the man 
fell. 

At last we crossed the difficult stream near Mobana 
called the Bembo, and commenced the ascent of the 
steep hill on which the village is situated. It was a 
critical stage in our flight. We thought it likely 
messengers might have gone by other paths to rouse 
the people against us, as the men who pursued 
us shouted out, "Men of Mobana, do not let the 
Oguizi's people pass ! they have killed our people ! " 
As we expected, we found the fighting men all 
ranged in battle array at the further end of the 
village. Our road, however, lay a little out of their 
way; we passed quickly, and were soon again im- 
mersed in the shade of the forest path. 

So far from being free from our tormentors after 
this, we were now followed by the Mouaou and 
Mobana warriors united. The path led at first down 
the hill and we hurried along it at full speed so as 
not to be caught at a disadvantage. A little further 
on, halfway up another hill, Igala and Eapelina stayed 
behind and shot another man, wounding him only, 
and sending him howHng back to his companions. 

After this there was a lull for a short time. We 
stopped and considered what was best to be done. 



360 EETEEAT FEOM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVIH. 

We were all tired with our long run over tlie rugged 
hilly forest road, and irritated besides at the per- 
tinacity of our blood-thirsty pursuers. I had wished 
to escape without causing any further sacrifice of life 
if possible, but it was plain that unless we killed more 
than we had done we should be unable to free our- 
selves from our enemies before nightfall, and then 
they might surround us and massacre us all. My 
men and myself agreed that we should here choose 
a place to make a last stand, and give them a lesson 
that should put a stop to them. 

We had leisure to look out for a good position, 
for we knew the district, and remembered every hill. 
On the slope of one of the hills there was a place 
where a number of trees grew close together. We 
stationed ourselves each behind a broad trunk, but all 
within a short distance from each other, and there 
waited the arrival of our pursuers. As usual, the bow- 
men came on first, but we heard the noise of a multi- 
tude not far behind them, all bellowing forth curses 
on our heads. As soon as a good number were visible 
down the broad and tolerably straight road, Igala 
and Rapelina both fired. One man fell, evidently 
dead, and another was wounded in the face, to all 
appearance his jaw broken. Ngoma then took his 
aim, but his shot fell wide. The fellows seemed to be 
cowed at this unexpected onslaught, and when we 
suddenly emerged from behind the trees and showed 
ourselves, they all beat a retreat. It was our last 
combat, and although we heard them for a long time 
afterwards, it was always at a great distance. The 
forest in this part was not dense, but open, the 



Chap. XVIII. A HALT. 361 

ground covered with a few bushes and tall trees, 
with magnificent crowns of foliage, towering up at 
intervals of twenty to fifty yards from each other. 
The open nature of the forest very much improved 
our chances of escape ; for we were enabled to see 
our enemy at a distance, and were not in danger of 
being out-flanked. The country was very rugged, 
hill succeeded hill, and sometimes the slopes were 
very steep. 

We now breathed more freely. We halted, laid 
down our loads and rested, keeping a sharp look-out 
at the same time. I examined Igala's wound and 
my own. The blood had run very copiously from 
my finger, and my clothes were quite saturated 
with it; but the flow of blood appeared to have 
carried off the poison, for. I felt no further ill effect 
from the wound except the pain, and it was healed 
in about three weeks afterwards. The action of the 
poison used by the natives is not very rapid; it 
causes corruption of the flesh around the wound, dis- 
charge of matter, and eventually gangrene ; when an 
arrow or spear penetrates into the . bowels, death is, 
of course, certain to ensue, but if the wound is only 
an external one it is very seldom fatal. The arrow- 
head which had pierced my side was found, when 
wrenched from the wound, to have been poisoned ; 
but the coating of poison had been fortunately scraped 
off it in passing through the leather, and my wound, 
though extremely painful, was not a dangerous one, 
Igala's wound was still very painful ; indeed towards 
night it got much worse, and I was afraid he would 

become lame. I had no medicine to give him, for 
25 



362 EETREAT FROM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVIII. 

all had been left behind. I began to fear for the 
safety of this brave and faithful negro. If he lost 
his life in this affair, I felt that I should never for- 
give myself. 

As we were again shouldering our otaitais (now 
almost empty) to resume our march, we descried a 
man a short distance off, walking stealthily through 
the bushes up the hill and occasionally hiding him- 
self. He was coming towards us^ and we were at 
once on our guard again. Igala volunteered to go 
down and watch his movements. We waited the 
result in dead silence, each man gun in hand, and 
looking round the hill in expectation of seeing that 
we were surrounded. The man came nearer, and we 
saw that he had a gun in his hand : it was Mouitchi, 
whom we. had given up for lost! He had escaped 
without a scratch, by running along by-paths in the 
forest' within sound of the noisy crowd of our pur- 
II suers. He told us that both the men we had hit in 

the last encounter were dead, and that our pursuers 
had resolved to desist from following us, saying that 
they should all be killed one by one if they went on. 
The arrival of Mouitchi put us all in good spirits, 
for we .took it as a good omen. We now saw a 
chance of the whole party arriving safely on the sea- 
coast. 

The forest after this resumed its accustomed still- 
ness, undisturbed by the savage war-cries and still 
more savage curses of the infuriated Ashangos. We 
had another village to pass, Niembouai Olomba, where 
I thought we might be attacked. Before we reached 
the place we met two women in the path belonging 



Chap. XVin. WE SLEEP IK THE FOREST. 363 

to Mobaiia. Igala wanted to shoot them, but I pre- 
vented him and gave him a sharp reprimand for 
thinking of such an act. I had given him an order 
at starting that if any women, old men, or children 
should be met with on the road he must . let them 
pass unhurt, but that he was to shoot down armed 
men without mercy, this being necessary for our 
safety. Igala did not like this style of making war ; 
he said this was not the white man's country, and 
we ought not to fight in white man s fashion. If I 
had not restrained him he would have shot every 
Ashango we saw, regardless of age or sex. 

Thus we went on till sundown. "We were then 
near the village of Niembouai Olomba, and had 
travelled at least over twenty miles of ground 
without food since our flight commenced at nine 
o'clock in the morning, I thought it unsafe in our 
exhausted state to run the gauntlet of this large and 
possibly hostile village, through which lay the only 
path we knew, and my men agreed with me that our 
best plan would be to retire into the forest, some 
distance from the main road, and sleep there till 
midnight. We might then pass through before the 
fighting men were aroused and seized their weapons, 
and we should have strength to run, as before, until 
we had reached a good place for making a stand to 
defend ourselves. 

The plan was carried out. We plunged into a 
dense part of the forest, and then lay down on the 
ground to sleep, in a small open space, muzzling our 
dog that he should not betray our hiding place. 
Darkness had closed in : silence was broken only by 



364 EETEEAT FEOM ASHANGO-LAKD. Chap. XVIII. 

the mournful cry of a solitary owl. My exhausted 
men thought neither of leopards, nor poisonous snakes, 
nor hostile savages, but slept soundly ; as for myself, 
I was too anxious to sleep, and Igala distressed me by 
his moaning from time to time, although he tried all 
he could to suppress it. 

The night air was misty and cold. As I lay awake 
on the damp ground, I thought of kindred and friends 
in the far north, of the many happy hours I had 
spent in happy homes, amidst every luxury of civi- 
lized life ;^ and I felt desolate, as though all was now 
ended. I also thought of those who, in the comfort 
of their own fire-sides, carp at the narratives of tra- 
vellers, and begrudge the little honour and fame they 
may gain. I am sure that if they had only passed 
through a tithe of the hardships travellers undergo, 
they would be more indulgent. 

At last I thought it must be near midnight, so I 
awoke my men and sent two of them into the path 
that leads to the village, telling them to go and see 
if all was quiet. They returned with a favourable 
report. Then calling them all close to me, I said, 
" My boys, I have fought for you as hard as I could, 
but the time may be at hand when I shall not be 
able to do so any more. I may be killed to-night, or 
I may not be strong enough to fight, much longer. 
Whatever happens, remain together ; listen to Igala, 
your chief, and do not throw away my Journals.* 
Even if you have to throw away everything else, do 

* One of tlie volumes of the journal, together with my route-maps, 
numerous notes, and two copies of astronomical and meteorological observa- 
tions, had already been lost in the retreat. 



Chap. XVIII. NIGHT-MAECH THEOUGH NIEMBOUAI. 365 

not throw them away, but deliver them into the 
hands of the white men on the coast." 

My men clung close round me as I spoke, and all, 
with voices full of love, said, " Chaillie, you are not 
to die ! You are not to die ! We will bring you 
alive to our people ! You shall always be with us." 
I answered, in a laughing tone, in order to cheer 
them up : "I did not say I am to die to-night ; but 
only that I might die. Don't you know that Chaillie 
knows how to fight?" They all said, "Yes, yes; 
and we also know how to fight — we are men ! " We 
then shouldered our bundles and guns, and strug- 
gled through the entangled thicket, tearing ourselves 
with thorns, into the path, and thence to the village 
street. We here paused, and called each other in a 
low voice to make sure we were all together ; for it 
was so intensely dark that we could not see a yard 
before us. It was necessary to guard against a pos- 
sible ambush, for the villagers must have been aware 
that we were near their place on the preceding 
evening, and they knew that we • could not ven- 
ture to travel except along the main road of the 
country, which passed through their village. We 
then stepped forward, like desperate men resolved 
to fight for our lives to the last. We took the 
middle of the- street, which was a very long one, 
treading cautiously, with our guns cocked, and ready 
at the slightest warning. At one house we heard 
people playing the wombi (native harp *) inside ; 
we crossed lightly to the opposite side of the street, 

* See, for description of this instrument, 'Adventures in Equatorial 
Africa.' 



366 RETREAT FROM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVIII. 

and passed without having alarmed the inmates. 
We then came near the end of the street, and were 
thinking that all danger was passed, when suddenly a 
bright fire blazed up right before us ! As we stood 
motionless waiting for the next move, a kind voice 
spoke out in the darkness — "It is the Oguizi's 
people ; go on ! go on ! there is no harm to you in 
my village ; pass on ! you will find the path smooth ; 
there is no war for you ! " It was the voice of the 
old king, who was thus, with some of his people, 
waiting our passage, with the good intention of 
speeding us on with kind words. They had got the 
materials for the fire ready beforehand to light us on 
our way. What a load was taken from our minds ! 
We had expected here a deadly struggle, and found 
instead the road made clear for us. But we were 
not quite sure that some act of treachery might not 
be intended ; so, instead of stopping to talk, we passed 
on without saying a word in reply to the kind speech 
of the chief. 

On we went in the darkness of the night ; through 
swamps and water courses, over stony hills and 
thorny brakes, often losing the path, and wandering 
about for some time before finding it again. At 
about three o'clock in the morning we came to a field 
of cassava. We halted, made a fire, gathered some 
of the roots, and roasted them to eat, for we had had 
no food since our flight began the preceding morning, 
and were quite worn out with fatigue and hunger. 
This renewed our strength, and I offered up a silent 
prayer to that gracious Providence who had so mar- 
vellously preserved my little band. 



Chap. XYIII. WE EESUME OUR MARCH. 367 

July 11 th, A little before daylight (as soon as we 
could see our way through the forest), we resumed 
our march, Igala limping along with his lame leg, 
and I marching among the men encouraging them 
with hopeful words. After going a short distance 
we came to a place where two paths diverged, and a 
dispute arose amongst my men as to which was the 
right way. Eebouka, who was now leading us, fixed 
upon one way as the right one, and Ngoma declared 
the other was the proper path ; he knew it, he said, 
by a monkey trap by the side of the road, which we 
had passed on coming to Niembouai Olomba. The 
majority declared in favour of Rebouka, and so we 
took his path. 

We continued on this road till midday, when it was 
necessary to halt and make a search for something 
to eat, for we were all ravenous with hunger. Some 
of the men dispersed on foraging expeditions, and two 
of them soon returned successful, having found a 
small grove of plantains from which they gathered 
several bunches nearly ripe. We made a fire on 
the margins of a pretty rivulet under the shade of 
trees, cooked and ate our meal. Soon after, having 
resumed our onward march, we arrived at a small 
village surrounded by plantations, which we knew 
at once we had not seen on our outward journey. 
Ngoma was now triumphant, and Rebouka and his 
followers discomfited. I was obliged to interfere to 
put an end to their dispute, and we then boldly 
walked into the village and spoke to the people. • 

The place proved to be a jDlantation of one of the 
head men of Niembouai Olomba, next in influence to 



368 EETKEAT FKOM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVIII. 

the king. He was a fine old fellow, with snow-white 
hair, and with that genial expression of features 
which is often seen in negroes of the better sort. He 
received us with great kindness, inviting ns to stay 
and eat something ; and, on our accepting his offer, 
ordered his women to cook us a fowl and some plan- 
tains. The women gave my men sugar-cane and 
mpegui nuts, and the old man apologized for not 
having a goat to offer us. 

The people of the village naturally asked us why 
we had returned so soon. My men were not behind 
hand in satisfying their curiosity ; but they took 
care to conceal the fact that we were the aggressors, 
though through no ill intention on our part. They 
said we had been attacked, and had had to fight our 
way back. Each of them boasted of his own feats 
and prowess, saying how many of the warriors of 
Mouaou Kombo he had beaten off. 

Whilst we were thus engaged, our old guide 
Magouga came in. The arrival of this faithful old 
man was most fortunate for us. He proved himself 
to be a real friend in need. He had heard, when he 
got up in the morning at Niembouai, that we had 
passed in the middle of the night, and had imme- 
diately set off to overtake us. He must have walked 
very fast. He seemed overjoyed to see us, and 
said he had returned to Niembouai Olomba from 
Mobana, intending to remain until he had heard of 
our safe passage through the Njavi country ; for he 
had anticipated that we should have great difficulties 
with the people of Upper Ashango-land, who were a 
bad set. He seemed really grateful for the services 



Chap. XVIH. AEEIYAL OF MAGOUGA. 369 

I had rendered him at Mobana, in saving him from 
the fury of the people when they were excited about 
the robbery, and he said that, now we had come 
back, he would see us safe to the Ishogo country. 
Magouga seemed not to have heard a correct account 
of the Mouaou affair. All he knew was that the 
people had driven us away, and that we had killed 
many of their warriors. He told us that one of the 
men shot by Igala was the head warrior of Mobana, 
and that this was likely to be made a casus belli 
between the Mobana villagers and the people of 
Mouaou Kombo, who were held to be the cause of 
the death. The Mobanans were already cooking the 
" war dish "* in order to march against the village of 
Mouaou Kombo. It was evident from the confused 
statements of Magouga, that the country was all in a 
ferment behind us. He said the Mouaou people had 
abandoned their village and retired to the forest, fear- 
ing lest I should return and burn it. They said all the 
arrows they had shot at me would not pierce me, but 
had rebounded from my flesh ; and they were filled 
with superstitious fears of the power of so mysterious 
a being. I must here add that my men and myself 
kept the fact of my having been wounded a secret 
from all the negroes on our homeward march; my 
men knew as well as myself how important it was 

* The " war-dish. " is the pot of magic herbs and fetiches wliich is cooked 
with a great deal of mystery and ceremony on the eve of going to meet an 
enemy. The mess is cooked in a very large vessel, and the affair is pre- 
sided over, as a matter of course, by the most renowned fetich doctor of the 
tribe. So soon as the cooking is completed, the warriors swallow part of 
the contents of the vessel, and smear their bodies over with the rest ; when 
they have succeeded in exciting themselves to the requisite pitch, they 
rush forth to attack the village they intend to panda (assault). 



370 RETREAT FEOM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap-. XVIII. 

that I should maintain the reputation of being in- 
vulnerable ; and it was universally believed that the 
arrows of the Ashangos glanced from my body with- 
out hurting me. Magouga said he had heard that 
at one time I had turned myself into a leopard, 
had hid myself in a tree, and had sprung upon the 
Mouaou people as they came to make war on my 
men ; that at other times I turned myself into a 
gorilla, or into an elephant, and struck terror and 
death among the Mouaou and Mobana warriors. 
Magouga finished his story by asking me for a 
''war fetich," for he said I must possess the art of 
making fetiches, or I and my men could not have 
escaped so miraculously. 

After a good rest and a hearty meal, we left the 
good old chief of the plantation-village, and con- 
tinued our homeward march, now under the guidance 
of Magouga. On parting I gave the old chief a 
quantity of beads out of our remaining stock, and 
also a red powder flask, which latter present delighted 
him beyond measure, and he said he would keep it 
in remembrance of me. We were fortunate after 
all in taking the wrong path, for besides being led 
by it to the plantation of the hospitable old chief, 
we were enabled to avoid the village of Niongo, 
where, if we did not meet with obstacles, we should 
at least have been delayed in our journey. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 



JOURNEY TO THE COAST. 

Arrival at Mongon — Magouga recounts the Story of our Adventures to the 
Villagers — Eeach Niembouai — Mistrust of the People — Kestitution of 
Stolen Property — Magouga consents to guide us to Mokenga — Keach 
the last of the Ashango Villages — Passage into Ishogo-land, and out of 
danger of Pursuit — Magouga's Diplomacy — Arrival at Mokenga — 
Friendly Eeception — Magouga delivers us safely into the hands of the 
Villagers — My Men exaggerate the Deeds of Valour they had performed 
— Arrival at Yengue — Project of descending the Ogoulou in a Canoe — 
Lose our Way — Distant View of the Apono Prairie — Igoumhie — 
Eeach Mokaba — The Ngouyai — March to Nchiengain's — Cross the Eiver 
— Nchiengain's Village — Eeception at Mayolo — Operation of the African 
Law of Inheritance — March to Ashira-land — Alarm of the Ashira 
People — Avoid Olenda — Sojourn at Angouka's — Cross the Ofouhou 
' — Quengueza's Encampment — Sorrows of the old King — Devastations of 
the Plague at Goumbi — Quengueza wants to go to the White Man's 
Country — Descend the Eiver — Arrival at " Plateau " — Gratitude of the 
Commi People — Departure for England. 

After parting from the Niembouai elder at his 
plantation-village we continned our journey towards 
the west, accompanied, as I have said, by Magouga. 
About half-past three p.m. we reached the village 
of Mongon, having taken a short cut by one of the 
numerous by-paths of the country, made by the people 
from one plantation to another. 

On our way to Mongon we were very much amused 
by a crowd of chimpanzees in a wooded hollow. We 
were marching along the edge of a deep valley, when 



I 



372 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

we were brought to a stand by the loud jabbering of 
what we thought was a multitude of people. Ma- 
gouga was puzzled, for he knew there was no village 
near; we listened, and found the sounds proceeded 
from the dense woods in the valley beneath us. 
Through breaks in the foliage we presently saw the 
dusky forms of a number of chimpanzees, moving 
about, swaying the branches, and making the most 
ludicrous noises. On observing them attentively we 
found there were two groups, one of them stationed 
at some distance from the other, and the two appeared 
to be holding a conversation together, or hurling 
shouts of defiance backwards and forwards. There 
must have been thirty or forty of them together 
in the trees below us. I never before observed so 
many anthropoid apes together. 

It was fortunate that we had Magouga with us, for 
the villagers of Mongon were thrown into great con- 
sternation at our unexpected arrival, and some of them 
were beginning to run away as we entered the village. 
I made the old man march at the head of our party, 
for I did not know what might happen. He shouted 
to the people to allay their fears, saying, '^1 am 
Magouga, do not be afraid, the Oguizi's people are 
going back." We made halt at the ouandja and were 
soon after surrounded by the people, all asking with 
looks of astonishment, " What does this mean ? Why 
have you returned?" It appeared that news had 
arrived here that Magouga had been killed at Mo- 
bana, and his people had mourned for him. 

Magouga was equal to the occasion. He made a 
long speech, narrating all the events in which he had 



Chap. XIX. MAGOUGA RECOUNTS OUR ADVENTURES. 373 

performed a part, cursing the Niembouai people for 
stealing my goods, and describing how the Mobana 
villagers wanted to kill him. Then with regard to 
our affair at Mouaou Kombo he gave a most 
exaggerated account. He said the villagers had 
attacked us because they did not want us to pass ; 
that we had killed eighteen of them, and that all 
the arrows shot at me had glanced off without 
doing me any harm ; and then he again related 
the history of my various transformations. So well 
did he describe our misfortunes, that the Mongon 
people all took our part. "What a shame it is," 
said they, **that war should be made on such 
men, who do no harm, who take nothing by force, 
and bring us only good things." They said they 
would resist the Mouaou warriors if they came near 
their village. The women after this brought us 
fowls, eggs, and ripe plantains, which they exchanged 
with us for a few trinkets. We were pressingly in- 
vited to remain for the night in the village ; but I 
thought this would be an imprudent proceeding, so 
I made an excuse. We left the place towards the 
evening, and, after marching three or four miles, 
slept in an abandoned plantation on the road to 
Niembouai West. 

July 2%th, We slept very little during the night, 
for neither myself nor my men considered we were 
yet quite out of danger of an attack. We lay down 
with our loaded weapons by our side, three of my 
men lying in the same hut with myself. 

Eising at daylight we resumed our march, walking 
very rapidly till nearly noon, when we arrived at 



374 JOUKNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

Niembouai, where our guide resided. The same mis- 
trust of our proceedings was shown here as at 
Mongon, but on recognising Magouga the villagers 
became reassured. Our excellent guide took us down 
the street to his own house ; but we had little peace 
all the remainder of the day, for the people were 
eager to learn the particulars of the late events from 
the lips of the eloquent Magouga. The story as 
related by him waxed more sensational after each 
repetition ; but what pleased the villagers most was 
the way in which he described us as saving his life 
when threatened by the Mobana people. At this 
there was tumultuous cheering, with shouts of "You 
are men ! you are men ! How can people make war 
on such men ? " 

# July 2dth, Notwithstanding the gush of popularity 
of the preceding evening, the Niembouai villagers 
have evidently not yet shaken off their distrust of 
me. Early in the morning I saw people casting furtive 
glances at me, and little groups of elders were ob- 
servable at a distance from my hut, engaged in close 
confabulation. The cause of all this was made ap- 
parent shortly afterwards. The people were afraid 
that I should do something to them in revenge for 
the articles that had been stolen between Niem- 
bouai Olomba and Mobana, when I passed through 
their territory on the eastward journey. At length 
one of the negroes, who I suppose had been chosen 
to carry out the perilous mission, came and handed 
me a bottle partly filled with arsenic, saying that he 
was a stranger to the village, and that the bottle 
having been given to him as my property, he had 



Chap. XIX. MAGM)UGA STANDS BY US. 375 

come to return it. I learnt afterwards that my men 
had threatened the people with punishment if they 
did not restore the whole of the stolen property. 

I had not intended to pass another night at Niem- 
bouai, and this distrust on the part of the people con- 
firmed me in my determination. Magouga had, how- 
ever, given us a goat, and it was necessary to remain 
until it was killed and cut up into pieces for con- 
venience of carriage. Rumours of armed men being 
s66n in the bush round the village circulated about 
in the course of the day, and the villagers pretended 
to be alarmed lest they should be attacked on account 
of us. At length we left the place, and after an easy 
march reached the village, mentioned in the earlier 
part of this narrative, which the Ashango and Njavi 
people share together. 

We- were again accompanied by our steady friend 
Magouga, who, after putting his house at Niembouai 
in order, announced his readiness to guide us safely 
as far as Mokenga. He was the only native who 
consented to accompany us out of the district be- 
longing to his tribe, during any part of our journey 
towards the coast. There are very strong reasons 
why these people of the interior object to going 
far westward ; they are liable to be detained and 
enslaved, and it never happens that an Ishogo or an 
Ashango man, who has once left his country for the 
sea-board tribes, returns to his native land. Perhaps 
they thought we might kidnap them. Besides, we 
had lost nearly all our property, and I was no longer 
the rich Oguizi that dazzled all people with my 
wealth on my outward march ; it was therefore a 



376 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

most disinterested act on the part of Magouga to 
accompany us ; for he could not have been attracted 
by the prospect of good pay or plunder. 

The villagers here were this time exceedingly 
friendly, bringing us plantains, cooking-pots, cala- 
bashes of water, and firewood. However, we did 
not stay long at their village, but proceeded onward 
towards the west. About five o'clock we reached 
Moyego, a large Ashango village which we had 
passed on our march eastward without stopping at 
it, in opposition to the entreaties of the inhabitants. 
Magouga had friends living here, and as the villagers 
pressed us strongly to stay, and gave us many pre- 
sents of food, we passed the night here. When they 
heard our account of the Mouaou affair they said that 
it was no concern of theirs, that the Mouaou people 
belonged to a different clan from them, and that they 
wished we had killed more of them. 

July SOth, Continuing our march this morning, 
we reached before noon Magonga, the last, or most 
westerly, of the Ashango villages, situated on the 
banks of the Odiganga. I did not wish to make any 
stay here, so we marched through the village without 
stopping, much to the surprise and disappointment 
of the inhabitants, who were curious to know what 
had happened to cause our return to the coast. 
Magouga was very much annoyed because I would 
not stay, and said he would not go with us any 
further. I told him I did not want him, for we 
knew the road as well as he did. We crossed the 
Odiganga, and fixed our head-quarters on the other 
side of the stream, so that, in case of attack, we 



Chap. XIX. OUT OF DANGER OF PUESUIT. 377 

should liave the stream between us and the people of 
Magonga, whom we had left in rather a bad humour. 
The villagers came to us, and we bought a few plan- 
tains and some provisions with the few beads that 
I had remaining. About two hours afterwards, as 
we were eating our dinner by the roadside on the 
path to Mokenga, Magouga made his appearance, 
making the excuse that he was obliged to pretend to 
be vexed with me, otherwise the villagers would 
have laid on him the blame of my not staying in 
their town ; in future I was not to mind what he said 
when we were in a village ; " Recollect," he said, 
^' you go out of the country, but I remain in it, and 
must take care to keep friends with the people." 
This little anecdote shows how full of deceit and 
diplomacy these primitive Africans are, and how 
difficult it is to know when they are speaking the 
truth. 

Since we had crossed the Odiganga we have been 
amongst the Ishogo tribe, and I felt for the first time 
that we were safe from fighting ; we had quitted the 
territory of the tribe with whom we had had so deadly 
an encounter, and had placed a broad and rapid river 
with high banks between them and ourselves. The 
villagers on the western side of the Odiganga brought 
us a great number of articles for sale, denguis, fowls, 
bongos, fruit, and nuts, and wished us to stay ; but 
we had resolved not to make any lengthened stay 
anywhere. We passed several Ishogo villages in 
succession, and in the evening arrived at a small 
plantation not far from Ayamba, or Diamba. We 

slept at the plantation, and on the following morn- 
26 



378 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

ing, after a march through the forest, reached the 
village. 

July 31<s^. The Ishogo chief of Ayamba presented 
me with a goat. We were conducted by the villagers 
into the strangers' ouandja, where we cooked our 
morning meal. As usual we were niuch pressed by 
the people to remain a day or two with them, but 
I was firm in my determination to march on : we did 
not need porters, and knew the road, so were inde- 
pendent of them all. I had declined to stay at 
Ayamba on my outward march, and the people 
recalled this to mind, saying that they believed their 
place must be bewitched, as I had refused both times 
to stay in it. Magouga repeated his old game of 
pretending to be dreadfully angry with me for not 
staying, but of course I took no notice of him this 
time, except to laugh at the trick. 

In the afternoon we reached the good village of 
Mokenga. The astonishment of the inhabitants at 
our return was unbounded. We were soon sur- 
rounded by an eager crowd, all asking questions, 
and Magouga became at once a man of great import- 
ance. It filled him with pride to be able to say to 
the villagers_, when order was somewhat restored, 
and all were ready to listen to his account of our 
journey, ^^ Here we are, people of Mokenga ! Your 
men gave into my hands the Ibamba and his people 
at Niembouai, and now I give you them back in 
safety." In narrating the events of the past few 
weeks he repeated the little troubles he had had at 
Niembouai and Mobana, and when he came to the 
Mouaou Kombo business he got quite eloquent, and 



Chap. XIX. FRIENDLY EECEPTIOIT AT MOKENGA. 379 

made a most exciting story of it. I found that lie 
liad gradually increased the number of the people 
we had killed. At the last place where he told his 
tale eighteen was the number ; he now stated it was 
thirty. My Commi men were just the same. Modest 
and tolerably accurate at first, before we were quit 
of the Ashango territory, they now began to boast 
frightfully of the deeds of valour they had enacted. 
Like Sir John Falstaff, they gradually augmented the 
number they had slain with their own hand. Each 
of them declared in turn that he had killed several 
of the enemy, and Mouitchi, who had sneaked into 
the forest at the commencement, and had taken no 
part in the struggle, was more boastful than any of 
them. He was firm in his statement that he had 
killed five with his own hand. The further we 
travelled from the scene of action, the more my 
valiant Oommi boys exaggerated the number they 
had slain ; until at Quengueza's the total had reached 
the fearful figure of 150. 

The sympathy and hospitality shown to us by the 
Mokenga people, after the speech of Magouga, were 
quite remarkable. Old Mokounga, our former Ishogo 
head guide, took me to his own house, saying I was 
his gaest and must stay with him, and the villagers 
invited my men to stay with them. Sugar-cane, 
plantains, and ground-nuts were brought to us and 
given to my people ; Mokounga gave me a goat ; 
kettles and firewood were brought to us to cook our 
food ; in short, the kind-hearted people seemed to be 
sincerely happy to see us back amongst them, and I 
felt happy myself. 



380 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

August 1st — Zrd. We remained at Mokenga three 
days, as we all required rest, and I had another 
motive for staying in the great pleasure which it 
gave to the villagers who had been so kind to us. 
Mokounga, I was sorry to find, suffered greatly from 
sore legs ; they were much swollen, and discharged 
a quantity of watery humour. It was fortunate that 
the rumour about my causing sickness in every one 
who came in contact with me had not reached these 
Ishogo people. Mokounga told us that the disease 
in his legs made its appearance two or three days 
after he left me on the outward journey, and he 
attributed it, as usual, to some one having bewitched 
him through jealousy of my friendship. On the 
night of my arrival there was a slow beating of 
drums and mournful singing in one of the houses of 
the village — a sign that some one lay dead there. I 
was told it was a woman who died three days pre- 
viously : the next morning the corpse was carried 
away to the cemetery in the woods. I was pleased 
to find that the people here were not so much afraid 
of death as the tribes nearer the sea ; they do not 
abandon a village when a death occurs. Indeed, the 
villages are so large that this custom would be very 
difficult to keep up. Mokenga is, I think, the most 
southerly village of the Ishogo tribe, who occupy a 
narrow territory extending for about 150 miles from 
the north-west to the south-east, running nearly 
parallel to the large Ngouyai river. The country 
of this tribe must begin very near the banks of the 
Rembo Okanda. 

The Ashango occupy about the same length of ter- 



Chap. XIX. AEEIVAL AT YENGUE. 381 

ritory, but theirs is a mucli broader tract of land. 
Both tribes, and the Aponos also, are bordered on 
the south by the Njavi people ; these latter being 
also found beyond the Ashango. 

August Ath. We left the village this morning, fol- 
lowed by the best wishes of the Mokenga people, but 
none of them accompanied us. As we disappeared 
in the forest, they shouted after us, " Come again ! 
come again, Oguizi, and bring us trade ! " Old 
Magouga, who, notwithstanding all his tricks and 
odd ways, had been a faithful friend to us, remained 
here. I made a parting present both to him and 
Mokounga. They accompanied us to the woods 
through which the path led, and in bidding us 
adieu, shouted " Come again ! come again ! " 

After a short march we arrived at the village of 
Yengue, charmingly situated on the banks of the 
beautiful Eckmiihl, or Ogoulou Eiver. As soon as 
we made our appearance, the villagers brought their 
canoes to ferry us across, and all of them, like the 
inhabitants of other places we had passed, asked the 
reasons of our coming back. When we told them 
our tale, they said they wished we had killed all the 
Mouaou warriors. '' How could such far-away people 
know the value of the good things you brought them ? " 
said they ; " and how could such men of the bush 
understand your fashions ? " We were surrounded 
by such a crowd of people that we were glad to get 
out of the village, and cook our morning meal in a 
retired place on the road-side. 

I had som*e thoughts of purchasing a canoe at 
Yengue, and travelling down the Eckmuhl into the 



382 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

Ngouyai, and thence to the Apono country ; but on 
stating my intentions to some of the villagers they 
told me that there was a waterfall a few miles below 
the village, and that it would be necessary to pass 
our canoe by land round the obstruction. We could 
not, however, get any very exact information about 
the river; and, fearing there might be other diffi- 
culties, I gave up the plan, and decided to travel 
back by the same path by which we had come. 

We were now travelling without a guide, for no 
one was willing to accompany us after Magouga had 
left us. As a natural consequence, we had not 
gone far before we lost our way. The path we 
took led us to an Apono village which we had not 
seen before ; it was beautifully situated on the top 
of one of the hills which form the last and lowest 
range of the mountains we had come from. From 
the village we had a wide prospect over the prairie 
of the Apono country, the yellow colour of which 
contrasted strongly with the dark-green hues of the 
forest that clothed the hilly ranges. The view ex- 
tended to the other side of the prairie, where we 
could see the mountain-range which divides the 
Otando from the Ashira Ngozai territories. A 
stretch of country, moderately hilly and covered 
with forest, extended between our position and the 
yellow prairie. 

The villagers fled at our approach, but we luckily 
found Dibako, a Mokaba man who had been one of 
our porters in our eastward journey, and he proved 
a true friend in need to us. After we had rested 
a while and refreshed ourselves with a drink of 



Chap. XIX. SOREOWFUL PAETINa AT IGOUMBIE. 383 

limpid water — for we felt the heat severely after 
descending from the hilly country — he volunteered 
to guide us to the right road, and a little before 
sunset we reached with his aid the village of Tgo- 
umbie. 

August bill. We left Igoumbie to-day, to the great 
sorrow of the villagers, who wished me to stay 
longer with them. Our Apono guide continued 
in our company. 

The Ishogos, notwithstandmg their many faults, 
are the kindest-hearted and the gentlest negroes I 
ever met with. As soon as my men- had shouldered 
their " otaitais," and the people saw that we were 
ready to start, the whole population came out. This 
time we had to pass through the whole length of the 
village. They followed behind us — the women were 
the most conspicuous. They all shouted out, " Go 
on well, go on well; nothing bad shall happen to 
you ! " When we reached the end of the village, 
and just before turning into the path that would take 
us out of their sight, I turned round, and, taking off 
the remnant of what was once a good hat, I waved it 
in the air. Immediately a dead silence succeeded 
the noise^ and I shouted, " Farewell^ good Ishogos ! " 
As I disappeared from their view among the trees of 
the forest we were entering, suddenly a wild and 
sorrowful shout of the multitude reached our ears. 
They all cried out with one voice, " We shall see 
the good Oguizi no more ! We shall see the good 
Oguizi no more ! " Then all became again silent, 
and once more we trod the path of this gigantic 
jungle on our way to the sea-shore. 



384 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

On leaving Igoumbie we took a different road from 
that which we had followed in our eastward journey. 
After about three hours' walk, we emerged on the 
open grassy hills which form the eastern boundary 
of the Apono country. After marching past nume- 
rous Apono villages on the western side of these 
hills, we reached in the afternoon the village of 
Mokaba. On the road, in a solitary part of the 
prairie, we passed by a tall pole with the head of a 
man stuck at the top, to all appearance quite recently 
placed there. My men passed the place with a quiver 
of horror, for they guessed what this ghastly object 
meant. We were told by our guide that it was the 
head of one of the chiefs, who had been decapitated 
on suspicion of being a wizard — another victim to 
the horrid superstitions of these people. The head 
had been placed on a pole by the road-side as a 
warning to all who approached Mokaba. 

I was glad to find that the palm-wine season was 
now over, and the Mokaba villagers constrained to 
be much more sober than they were on my former 
visit. The palm-trees had nearly finished blooming, 
and the ascending sap, which supplies the fermentable 
liquor, no longer flowed in sufficient quantity. My 
old friend Kombila was the only one who had liquor 
enough to get drunk upon, and he was so harmless 
over his cups that I had no annoyance from him. 

Late in the afternoon I took a walk into the prairie, 
which extends for a long distance in the neighbour- 
hood of Mokaba. I cannot express the pleasure I 
felt in being once more in open country. I seemed 
to breathe freer ; the eye wandered far away over a 



Chap. XIX. THE EIVER NGOUYAI. 385 

vast expanse, and the sensation was delightful after 
being confined so long in the dark forests of Ishogo 
and Ashan go-land. To feel the wind fanning one'g 
face was a luxury that had long been denied me. 
As I traversed the paths which led over the grassy 
expanse, my mind wandered to former scenes, the 
fields of my native country, and I longed to be back. 
What dangers had I not passed through since I left 
England on this mission ! Perils by water, fire, pesti- 
lence, and war. With a grateful heart I thanked Him 
who had watched over the lonely traveller who had 
trusted in Him. 

As I wandered along, occupied with these thoughts, 
the day declined and the sun set. It did not, how- 
ever, become dark, for a bright moonlight shone over 
the landscape, and the evening was most enjoyable. 
Gradually I retraced my steps towards Mokaba. 

August 6th. The crowd and noise in the village were 
so annoying that I was obliged this morning to leave 
the place and establish myself on the banks of the 
Ngouyai, which flows about a mile-and-a-half to the 
west of Mokaba. I did not know, when on our east- 
ward march, that the town was so near to the river. 
At this time of the year the Ngouyai has but a feeble 
current ; I was told by the Mokaba people, that fur- 
ther up stream, in the Njavi country, the river was 
narrower and encumbered with rocks and rapids. 
Although it was now towards the end of the dry 
season there were no hippopotami to be seen in the 
river. It appeared to me now that I might save the 
toilsome walk over the stony prairie by navigating 
the stream down to Nchieu gain's village. I tried 



386 JOUKNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

therefore to hire a canoe from the Mokaba people, 
offering a good price for the nse of it. The wiseheads 
of the village took the matter into consideration, but 
I could not prevail upon them to lend me the canoe. 
They did not think they should see it again, and 
they would not accompany me to Nchiengain's and 
return with the canoe. There was the same disin- 
clination shown here to travelling with me, as I have 
described before ; they were all afraid that I should 
sell them as slaves when I had got them out of their 
territory. They were willing to sell me the canoe 
outright, but I was now too poor to buy it. 

Before I left Mokaba, Kombila made me a fare- 
well speech, and entreated me to come back again 
and bring trade. All the elders, who stood around 
us, backed up the prayer ; " We w^ant trade," they 
said, " we love the white man's things ; oh ! why 
are we so far from the white man's country ? " 

On our march to Nchiengain's, we passed the 
village of Dilalo, where, on our eastward march, the 
inhabitants had set fire to the prairie to oppose our 
progress. A crowd of women came after us as we 
took the path leading outside of the place, and be- 
sought us to come in and rest ourselves in the vil- 
lage. They wanted beads, they said_, like the women 
of the other towns, and when I persisted in my 
refusal to enter a place where we had been treated so 
ill, they set to cursing their own men for being the 
cause of it all. 

We slept at night in a beautiful little wood by the 
banks of a pleasant stream. 

August ^th. We passed several villages early in 



Chap. XIX. NCHIENGAIN'S YILLAGE. 887 

the morning, followed by crowds of the inhabitants 
all begging ns to stay with them, and creating a 
deafening uproar by their shouts. On reaching the 
banks of the river, we persuaded two Apingi men, 
who were coming down in a small canoe, to fetch 
for us ^NTchiengain's large ferry-boat "which lay on 
the opposite side. When we had crossed the river, 
my men fired their muskets as a signal of our ap- 
proach ; and we had not marched far, before we saw 
the old chief advancing to meet us, followed by the 
greater part of the inhabitants of the village. Nchien- 
gain held a sword in his hand, and his men carried 
their spears and bows, all to give eclat to our reception. 
One would have thought it was a war party coming 
out to meet an enemy, and some of my men were at 
first afraid. 

The good old fellow hugged me in his arms and 
seemed overjoyed to see me. News of what had 
happened had already reached him, and he had 
expected soon to see us back. He joyfully told me 
that he and his people had been all well since my 
departure, and that he knew now I did not bring 
disease and death with me. He gave me also the 
welcome news that Mayolo had recovered from the 
illness which had seized him when at Mokaba. I 
was struck by the scantiness and shabbiness of the 
grass-cloth clothing of the Apono and Apingi people 
here, after being so long amongst the well-dressed 
Ishogos and Ashangos, with their fine bongos and 
ample denguis. 

We remained six days enjoying the hospitality of 
Nchiengain, a delay that was very necessary on 



388 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX 

account of onr exliansted state ; I and Igala had 
suffered the most, and this welcome rest was necessary 
to us. The climate is much warmer in the valley 
of the Ngouyai ; and during our stay we could see 
dark clouds gathering over the Ashango Mountains, 
sure signs that the rainy season was near at hand. 
The Aponos said that within a month the rains 
would come. 

On the 13th of August, at daylight, we left Nchi- 
engain's village for Mayolo. I am not sure, how- 
ever, about the day, for I had missed my reckoning. 
Since my sextant was lost on the first day of the re- 
treat from Mouaou Kombo, I have of course taken no 
observations, which used to enable me, by the help of 
the 'Nautical Almanack,' to know the day of the 
month. No Apono people accompanied us, and we 
were attended only by two of Mayolo's sons and one 
of his people, who came to Nchiengain's to meet us. 
At half-past seven a.m. we reached the river Dooya, 
which is at this season the only stream on the road 
that is not dried up ; we therefore stopped here for 
breakfast, although it was so much earlier than the 
hour at which we usually took that meal. We reached 
Mayolo in the afternoon. Old Mayolo came to meet 
us attended by a crowd of villagers ; he was looking 
plump and hearty. Presents were made to me of a 
native cap and several bongos ; this is a custom with 
this people when they wish to welcome a friend who 
has returned safe from a long journey. I found that 
the small-pox had again made its appearance in 
Mayolo in the height of the dry season ; and, as 
Rapelina, one of my Commi men, had not had the 



OnAP. XIX. EECEPTION AT MAYOLO. 889 

disease, we established our olakos or sheds outside 
the village. 

Old Mayolo was so much impressed with the 
account of our affray with the Mouaou people and 
our escape from their poisoned arrows, killing at the 
same time so many of them — for, as I have said be- 
fore, my men exaggerated more and more at every 
place the number we had slain — that he firmly be- 
lieved some potent talisman had protected us in the 
fight. The morning after our arrival he came into 
my shed in a mysterious manner, looking about to 
see that no one was near us, and said, " Chaillie, you 
are an Oguizi, and I know you can make mondahs, 
although you say you do not. How could the 
arrows of the Ashango glide off your body without 
hurting you, if you had not a war fetich on you? 
and how could you kill so many without any of your 
men being killed ? I cannot understand this, for I 
know that the Ashangos are great warriors. If you 
love me, make one of these great war mondahs for me, 
that I and my people may go into the fight without 
being hurt, and that everybody may be made afraid of 
Mayolo." The earnestness of manner and excitement 
of the old man were quite ludicrous. I entirely failed 
to persuade him that I had no such mondah, and still 
more incredulous was he when I said that our safety 
was due to a kind Providence who had watched over 
us. He left me at last dissatisfied, and questioned my 
men ; Igala was quite ready to make and sell to him 
any amount of fetiches. 

I had an opportunity during my stay in Mayolo of 
observing how the curious law of inheritance existing 



390 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

amongst these tribes is carried out. OslioTimoima, 
the nephew and heir of Mayolo, had died of small- 
pox since my departure from Mayolo for the interior, 
leaving two wives — one young and good-looking, 
the other old and ugly. These wives of Oshou- 
mouna I knew very well, for I had given one of 
them a coat for her husband on my former visit, 
and had often bought plantains of the other. To 
my surprise I found one of them now married to 
Mayolo and looking quite joyous, dressed in her 
best ; the other was married to Ikala, Oshoumouna's 
younger brother. According to my notions of 
African law, Ikala ought to have inherited all the 
property of his deceased brother, including the pick 
of the wives. I asked why this had not taken place, 
and was told that it is the elder brother who inherits 
the property of his younger brothers in the event of 
their decease, and not vice versa. If Ikala had died 
first, Oshoumouna would have taken his wives and 
all the rest of his property, but, as the case stood, 
Oshoumouna having no elder brother, his uncle 
Mayolo had the right of dividing the property as he 
thought fit ; but with the understanding that some 
of the wives must be given to the younger brother. 
My Commi men and several of the Otando people 
criticised rather sharply old Mayolo's appropriation 
of the pretty wife ; they thought he was greedy in 
wanting all the best things for himself. 

I was much amused one evening at Mayolo, whilst 
my men and a number of villagers were lying about 
the fires near our encampment, by a story or parable 



Chap. XIX. STOKY OF AKENDA MBANL 391 

related by a very talkative old fellow who seemed 
to be the wag of the village. It was as follows : — 



AKENDA MBANI. 

Rodjioua had a daughter called Arondo, and 
she was very beautiful. Redjioua said, " A man 
may give me slaves, goods, or ivory to marry my 
daughter, but he will not get her; I want only a 
man that will agree that when Arondo falls ill, he 
will fall ill also, and that when Arondo dies, he 
will die also." Time went on ; and, as people knew 
this, no one came to ask Arondo in marriage ; but, 
one day, a man called Akenda Mbani ("never goes 
twice to the same place ") came, and he said to Red- 
jioua, "I come to marry Arondo, your daughter; 
I come, because I will agree that when Arondo 
dies, I will die also." So Akenda Mbani married 
Arondo. Akenda Mbani was a great hunter^ and, 
after he had married Arondo, he went hunting, and 
killed two wild boars. On his return, he said, "I 
have killed two boars, and bring you one." Red- 
jioua said, " Gro and fetch the other." Akenda 
Mbani said, '' My father gave me a nconi (a law) 
that I must never go twice to the same place." 
Another day he went hunting again, and killed 
two antelopes ; on his return, he said to Redjioua, 
" Father, I have killed two kambi (antelopes), I 
bring you one." The king answered, ^* Please, my 
son-in-law, go and fetch the other." He answered, 
^' You know I cannot go twice to the same place." 

Another time he went hunting again, and killed 



392 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

two bongos (a kind of antelope). Then Eedjioua, who 
saw that all the other animals were being lost, said, 
" Please, my son-in-law, show the people the place 
where the other bongo is." Akenda Mbani replied, 
" If I do so I am afraid I shall die." ' 

In the evening of the same day, a canoe from the 
Oroungou country came with goods, and remained 
on the river side. Akenda Mbani said to his wife 
Arondo, " Let us go and meet the Oroungons." 
They saw them, and then took a box full of goods 
and then went back to their own house. The people 
of the village traded with the Oroungous ; and, when 
the Oroungous wanted to go back, they came to 
Akenda Mbani, and he trusted them ten slaves, and 
gave them a present of two goats, and many bunches 
of plantains, mats, and fowls ; then the Oroungous 
left. Months went on ; but, one day, Arondo said 
to her husband, " We have never opened the box that 
came with the Oroungous. Let us see what there is 
in it." They opened it, and saw cloth ; then Arondo 
said, " Husband, cut me two fathoms of it, for I like 
it." Then they left the room ; then Arondo seated 
herself on the bed, and Akenda Mbani on a stool, 
when suddenly Arondo said, " Husband, I begin tp 
have a headache." Akenda Mbani said, " Ah, ah, 
Arondo, do you want me to die ? " and he looked 
Arondo steadily in the face. He tied a bandage 
round her head, and did the same to his own. 
Arondo began to cry as her headache became worse ; 
and, when the people of the village heard her cry, 
they came all round her. Eedjioua came, and said, 
" Do not cry my daughter ; you will not die." Then 



Chap. XIX. STOEY OF AKENDA MBANI. 393 

Arondo said, " Father, why do you say I shall not 
die ? for, if you fear death, you may be sure it 
will come." * She had hardly said these words than 
she expired. Then all the people mourned, and 
Eedjioua said, " Now my daughter is dead, Akenda 
Mbani must die also." 

The place where people are buried is called Djimai ; 
the villagers went there and dug a place for the 
two corpses, which were buried together. Eedjioua 
had a slave buried with Arondo, besides a tusk of 
an elephant, rings, mats, plates, and the bed on 
which Akenda Mbani and Arondo slept ; the cutlass, 
the hunting bag, and the spear of Akenda Mbani 
were also buried. The people then said, " Let us 
cover the things with sand, and make a little mound; 
When Agambouai (the mouth-piece — the speaker of 
the village) heard of this, he said to Eedjioua, 
^* There are leopards here." Then Eedjioua said, 
"Do not have a mound over my child's burial-place, 
for fear that the leopards might come and scratch the 
ground and eat the corpse of my child." Then the 
people said, '' Let us then dig a deeper hole," and 
they took away Arondo and Akenda Mbani, and 
placed both on stools, and then dug and dug, and 
put back the things that were to be buried with 
Arondo, and then laid her in her place. Then they 
came to Akenda Mbani, who then awoke and said, 
" I never go twice to the same place ; you put me in 
the tomb and you took me away from it, though 
all of you knew that I never go to the same place 

* When an African is ill, his friends consider it "will cause his death to 
say he will die. 
21 



394 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

again." When Eedjioua heard of this he became 
very angry, and said, "You knew that Akenda 
Mbani never goes twice to the same place ; why did 
you remove him ? " Then he ordered the people to 
catch Agambouai, and cut his head off. 

MORAL. 

Formerly it was the custom with married people 
that when the woman died the man should die also, 
and vice versa. But since the time of Akenda Mbani, 
the custom is altered, and the husband or the wife no 
longer die with their partners. 

We left Mayolo at daylight on the 16th of August, 
my men being all heavily-laden with plantains, for 
we could not prevail upon any of the Otando people 
to accompany us, and help in carrying our loads. 
I felt quite grieved when even the good Mayolo — to 
whom I had given so many presents, and with whom 
I had remained so long — refused to accompany me 
outside the village. As we left, sheet-lightning was 
playing through the dark clouds which hung over 
the mountains of Ashango-land. 

On the fourth day of our toilsome march over the 
rugged hills and through the dark forests of the 
mountain range which divides Ashira from Otando- 
land, we arrived in the afternoon at the first planta- 
tions of the Ashira Ngozai people. Before we saw 
the cultivated places we heard the axes ringing 
through the forests, showing that the natives were 
hard at work felling trees for new plantations ; this 
being the time of the year — the height of the dry 



Chap. XIX. WE AVOID OLENDA. 395 

season — when such work is done, the dry weather 
being favourable to the burning of the felled trees. 
Planting begins a few days after the trees have been 
burnt, with the first rains. My men had by this 
time eaten all their stock of plantains, and we were 
beginning to suffer from the want of food. We did 
not know how the Ashira people would receive us, 
after the very unsatisfactory way in which Mintcho 
and his party had parted from us at Mayolo. I 
thought it best therefore to avoid meeting with them 
if it were possible. We helped ourselves to a few 
plantains from the trees, sufficient for our present 
wants, and marched on. Passing the place where we 
had left Macondai ill of the small-pox, we continued 
our march, and just before nightfall reached the 
Olenda slave-village which I described in the ac- 
count of our eastward journey. This I was deter- 
mined to pass without stopping or having any deal- 
ings with the people; so, ordering my men to have 
their guns in readiness if any attempt should be made 
to stop us, we marched on, the people shouting after 
us as soon as they knew who we were. We got free 
of the village at last, and pushed on for the banks 
of the Ovigui. We were all exhausted with fatigue, 
and some of my men wanted to lie down and sleep 
by the roadside. I encouraged them, however, to 
keep up, and at last we reached the river side. It 
was then quite dark; we made a fire, roasted our 
plantains for supper, and then lay down to sleep. 

Rising at the first peep of day, after a restless 
night, I was surprised to find the Ovigui quite low, 
and easily fordable. The stream, which had been so 



396 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

formidable to cross in the rainy season, was now 
reduced to a mere shallow brook, with water reaching 
only to the knee. We crossed it, and entered upon 
the open prairie before it was yet quite light. I had 
half a mind to proceed straight to Olenda and, 
taking the inhabitants unawares, to seize some of the 
principal thieves of my property; but on second 
thoughts I judged it best to avoid the place alto- 
gether, and cross the prairie to the village of my 
friend Angouka. In our march we passed near to 
the deserted village of my old enemy Mpoto, who 
died of the small-pox during those terrible days ot 
February and March. My men looked upon the 
abandoned cluster of huts as a place accursed, and 
took care to give it a wide berth in passing. 

All the Ashira people whom we had seen since 
leaving the slave-plantation the previous evening had 
fled from us at the first sight, so that we held no 
communication with any one till Angouka's men 
came to meet us. We had fired guns on approaching 
the village, and this was answered by a number of 
the chiefs people coming out of the grove which 
surrounds the place, armed to the teeth, to see who 
it was that was coming. When they recognised us 
they could scarcely contain their joy. We were led 
amid shouts of welcome to the house which Angouka 
had built for me when he expected me to stay with 
him on my outward march. Angouka has now a 
feud with the Ademba clan (Olenda' s) of his tribe ; 
he hates them most bitterly ;, he is a harsh-tempered 
man, but has acted in the most loyal and friendly 
way towards me, so that I cannot help liking him. 



Chap. XIX. SOJOUEN AT ANGOUKA'S VILLAGE. 397 

We remained fourteen days at Angouka's place. 
The day after my arrival I was laid up with a severe 
attack of fever, the effect probably of the weeks of 
toil, anxiety, and privation I had undergone since 
the disastrous day at Mouaou Kombo. The fever 
yielded on the fourth day to the frequent and large 
doses of quinine which I took, but it left me so weak 
that I was unable to walk far for several days after- 
wards. The people of Olenda were all this time in 
great fear lest I should take vengeance on them for 
their misdeeds ; indeed, after my recovery, Angouka 
made a proposition to me to join my men in burning 
the village. This I decliaed, and preferred to lay the 
whole case before my staunch and powerful old friend 
Quengueza, who would, I was sure, punish the 
tricky knaves much more effectually than I should, 
if he thought it was necessary. In the end, the 
leading men of Olenda sent to offer to compound for 
their sins by giving me slaves, and asked how many 
I should be satisfied with. This offer of course I 
refused to listen to. 

We left Angouka's on the 10th of September, the 
first hour of our march being through the magni- 
ficent groves of plantain-trees, which this industrious 
and energetic old chief has established near his vil- 
lage. Continuing our journey, we came to a cluster 
of abandoned olakos which had been tenanted by 
Bakalai. The place must have been abandoned in hot 
haste, for mosquito-nets had been left hanging under 
the sheds, and on raising one of them I was struck 
with horror to see the skeleton of a man lying under 
it. On the road, in many places, we saw human skulls 



398 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

and bones, sad evidence of the ravages of the plague, 
and showing how many had died in the forest on their 
march from one place to another, their bones gnawed 
and scattered by prowling hyenas and leopards. 

We missed the path during the journey, and were 
guided only by knowing that we were going in the 
right direction for the Ofoubou by the compass ; 
finally, we reached the banks of this river, but at a 
point much lower down than the village of Gralipadi. 
Whilst at Angouka's, we had received a message from 
Quengueza, saying that, when his people came back 
from Goumbi, he would send some of them to me. 
He was staying on the banks of this river cutting 
ebony and deciding palavers amongst the Bakalai, 
and we now endeavoured to make our arrival known 
to him, by marching along the banks and firing our 
guns. At length our signals were heard : we saw a 
canoe approach the place where we stood, and on its 
approach recognised Ncheyouelai, one of the king's 
principal slaves. The water of this river was very 
low ; we had to go some distance before arriving at 
Quengueza's encampment. On reaching it we were 
received with a most hearty welcome ; the loyal old 
chief hugged me to his breast, and I am sure I reci- 
procated the joy he felt at our meeting. He beat 
his kendo, and, in a kind of solemn chant, thanked 
the spirits of his ancestors for my safe arrival. 

Sholomba of my own village was here, and some 
other negroes whom I knew. Nothing could be done 
until they had heard the story of our adventures. 
My men did not wait for me to tell the tale; but 
began their own story. As they proceeded, they 



Chap. XIX. SOEKOWS OF Kma QUENGUEZA. 399 

waxed warmer and warmer, rising and gesticulating 
to show how they surrounded the enemy, and how 
they slew them all, one after another. The more 
the narrators exaggerated, the more they were ap- 
plauded by the other men, until all with one accord 
shouted, " We have slain 150 of our enemies !" This 
story Quengueza would not believe, and said he 
would not be satisfied until he had heard the whole 
account from my own mouth; "for," added he, "I 
have heard from the Ashira the tale of the 150 dead 
men, and I did not believe them." So all of them 
assembled round me, and I gave them a faithful ac- 
count of the whole affair. They all listened very 
attentively, and at the most stirring parts of the nar- 
rative, when I described our turning in the forest 
path and facing the crowd of enraged warriors, they 
clasped their hands and cried out, " You are men ! 
you are men !" 

In return, Quengueza narrated to me the events 
that had happened since his parting from me at 
Olenda. It was a most sorrowful story. The eviva, or 
small-pox, broke out at Goumbi whilst Quengueza 
was still at Olenda, and his departure was hastened 
by the news brought to him of the plague. It had 
caused fearful havoc ; relatives, wives, slaves, all had 
caught the infection and nearly all had died. Goumbi 
was obliged to be forsaken. For many weeks the 
old chief, with the relics of his clan, lived in tempo- 
rary abodes or olakos on the opposite side of the 
river. Quengueza believed that if he had not re- 
turned home at the time he did, his beloved son 
Kombe would also have died. The old man was 



400 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX, 

greatly affected at the remembrance of liis losses and 
tlie death of so many that were dear to him ; and 
I could not help feeling sympathy for him. ".The 
Bakalai," said he^ '* are all gone ; the Eembo people 
are all gone ; my beloved Monbon (his head slave) is 
dead ; I am alone in the world." It appeared that 
he had not even entered Goumbi since he left me at 
Olenda ; but, finding the plague raging there on his 
return, he had established his home on the opposite 
bank of the river, and his nephews, who had accom- 
panied him and me to Ashira-land, together with 
most of his men, had died. I looked with sadness on 
his noble figure, with his hoary head whitened by 
years and bowed down with the remembrance of his 
troubles, and I grieved for him from the bottom of 
my heart. He was like an old oak of the forest left 
standing alone, after all its companions had been 
overthrown by the storm. We spent the evening by 
the side of the fires of our encampment, Quengueza 
and myself side by side, talking over our troubles, and 
my men telling the story of their adventures to their 
Rembo comrades, this time in more moderate terms. 

We spent several days at Quengueza's encamp- 
ment. I had great difficulty during this time in 
combating a tendency to sleepiness and lethargy, 
which had come over me since we had arrived safely 
amongst our friends. We all suffered much from 
hunger in the encampment, as food was scarce in 
this depopulated country. At length, news came 
that a vessel had arrived off the mouth of the Fer- 
nand Vaz, and I was seized with an uncontrollable 
desire to get away at once to the sea-shore. 



Chap. XIX. DEVASTATIONS OF THE PLAGUE. 401 

The canoes were not able to take the whole of our 
party at once, including Quengueza's wives, ebony, 
and slaves ; so we agreed that I should go first and 
wait for him at Goumbi. When we departed, the 
old chief told me to call at Obindji's town to bid good 
bye to Njambai, the present chief ; Obindji being no 
more, for he was one of the victims of the plague. 

We glided down the now placid waters of the 
Ovenga, passing the many Bakalai villages ; the 
numerous abandoned houses bore sorrowful witness of 
the devastations of the fearful scourge that had swept 
over this part of the country. We slept at night 
on the banks of the river, and the next morning 
passed by the ruins of Goumbi; no longer the 
flourishing well-peopled village it used to be, but a 
mere crowd of half-ruined, burnt, and deserted houses. 
Quengueza's new settlement was a little further down 
the river, and the place was called Sangatanga. 
Almost every one we met bore traces on his or her 
face of the ravages of the small-pox ; and there was 
not one who had not lost a near relative during these 
unhappy times. In fact, the Abouya clan of the 
Commi is almost destroyed ; in a few years there 
will be nothing left of this people, once the most im- 
portant clan of the Rembo. 

I visited Goumbi after my arrival at Sangatanga. 
The aspect of the place filled my heart with sadness ; 
even the gentle breeze whispering through the plan- 
tain groves seemed to me a mournful sound. I looked 
for the house of my good old friend Adouma, who 
on my former journey took me to the Apingi country ; 



402 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX 

nothing was left of it but a few poles, and it was 
tlie same with the habitations of many other negroes 
who had formerly been good friends to me ; the 
owners were dead, and their houses were in ruins. 
The little fetich-houses in their neighbourhood re- 
mained standing, with their talismanic creepers grow- 
ing round them, but there was no one to take care of 
them ; I took the opportunity to lecture the negroes 
who were with me, on the folly of believing in these 
fetiches, which they might see had no power to avert 
the calamity that had overtaken their owners. 

Soon after this, Quengueza himself arrived with all 
his followers, in their canoes. Many of the survivors 
of his clan had been trying to make him suspect 
witchcraft as being at the bottom of the misfortunes 
that had befallen him, and were crying out for the 
pona oganga to sacrifice more victims and still fur- 
ther reduce the numbers of the people. But the old 
man would not listen to these miserable croakers. 
I was glad to see him resist all their appeals; he 
said there was no witchcraft in this plague, but it 
was a " wind sent by Aniambie (God)." " Enough 
people had died/' he continued, " and we must not 
kill any more." 

The old chief seemed to have lost heart completely, 
and was thinking of leaving his country for good. 
" If I was a young man," he said, '' I would go with 
you to the white man's country ; and even old as I 
am, if your country was not so far off, I would go 
with you. If it was no further than the Mpongwe 
country (the Gaboon), or Fernando Po" — for he 



Chap. XIX. EETURN TO PLATEAU. 403 

liad heard of this place, although he had a very indis- 
tinct notion where it was — " I would leave the Eembo 
and go and live with you. You have escaped the 
plague and the arrows of the Ashangos ; you will 
reach your land, but remember that your old friend 
will always think of you." When I finally bade him 
adieu, he tried to make me promise to come back 
and stay with him. " Come again," he said, '' and 
go no more into the bush ; and when you come bring 
me a big bell, a sword with a silver handle that will 
not rust, and two chests, one of brass and another of 
ebony, for I want to see how you work the 'wood that 
we send to you." 

We arrived at my own place, '' Plateau," on the 
21st of September. It is impossible to describe 
the joy which the people showed on seeing us all 
come back in safety, for, with the exception of Igala's 
wound in the leg which was still inflamed, discharg- 
ing sometimes a good deal of matter, none of my 
Commi boys was the worse for the journey they had 
accomplished. 

In the evening of the day of our arrival, as I was 
taking a solitary walk over the open prairie towards 
the sea, the sister of Igala came to speak to me. 
With tears coursing down her cheeks, she said, 
''White man! with a good heart you have taken 
care of our people. You did not let them die of the 
plague. On the day of fight you stood by them. 
No wonder that we love you ; you are as one of our- 
selves ; you do not drive us away from you." This 
unaffected demonstration of gratitude, I must say^ 



404 JOUENEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 

made me feel well rewarded for all the care I had taken 
of my loyal Commi boys. With the exception of 
the little outburst at Niembouai of Mouitchi and Ea- 
pelina — whom we must excuse as having been slaves 
all their lives and knowing no better, indeed they 
were afterwards ashamed of their misconduct — I am 
proud and grateful to think of the fideHty, honesty, 
steadiness, and pluck displayed throughout the journey, 
by these sharers of my labours. I need scarcely say 
that I felt also proud and glad that I was able to 
bring back all my men, with the exception of Eetonda, 
who died of disease, safe and sound to their families 
and friends. They had shown so much confidence 
in me, in volunteering to accompany me on the expe- 
dition, which they were told would be likely to occupy 
two or three years, that it was a source of pride to 
me to be able to show the Commi people that their 
confidence had not been misplaced. 

The vessel at the mouth of the river was the 
Maranee, Captain Pitts, and was loading for London. 
I had lost nearly all my property in the disastrous 
flight from Ashango-land, and the house and store 
which I had built at '' Plateau " I had made a present 
of to the American missionaries of the Gaboon, who 
wished to establish there a native Christian teacher. 
I had, therefore, neither money nor property; but 
Captain Pitts kindly consented to take me as passen- 
ger. We set sail six days after my arrival. 
* 

And thus I quitted the shores of Western Equa- 
torial Africa with the blessings and good wishes of 



Chap. XIX. DEPARTUEE FOR ENGLAND. 405 

its inhabitants, whose character displays so curious a 
mixture of evil qualities and virtues of no mean order. 
Whether I shall ever return to the land where I 
have laboured so hard in endeavouring to extend 
the bounds of our knowledge, is doubtful ; but I shall 
bear a kindly remembrance of the country and its 
inhabitants as long as I live. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AlTD CLIMATE. 

Great Forest of Equatorial Africa — Scanty population — Scarcity or absence 
of large African animals — Hilly ranges — Kiver systems — The Ogobai 
— French, exploring expeditions — Amount of rain — Seasons — Rainy 
climate of Central Equatorial Africa — Temperature — Heat of the sun's 
rays — Coolness of the forest shades. 

Equatorial Africa from the western coast, as far as 
I have been, is covered with an almost impenetrable 
jungle. This jungle begins where the sea ceases to 
beat its continual waves, and how much further 
this woody belt extends, further explorations alone 
will be able to show. From my furthest point it 
extended eastward as far as my eyes could reach; 
I may, however, say that, near the banks of a large 
river running from a north-east direction towards 
the south-west, prairie lands were to be seen, accord- 
ing to the accounts the Ashangos had received. 

This gigantic forest extends north and south of the 
Equator, varying in breadth from two to three degrees 
on each side of it.* South of the Equator, it ex- 

* All the living plants collected on my return to the coast, I presented 
to Dr. J. D. Hooker, for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, of which he is 
the able Director. I am very glad to find that one of the orchids I col- 
lected near Goumbi proved a new species of Angroecum ; and Dr. Hooker 
has done me the honour to name it after me. Orchidaceous plants are 
abundant in the tracts of woodland near the sea; but they were less 
plentiful in the interior. 



Chap. XX. SCAECITY OF LAEGE ANIMALS. 407 

tended much furtlier soutlierly than I have been, and 
on the north it reached further than I travelled in 
my former journey. Now and then prairies looking 
like islands, resembling so many gems, are found in 
the midst of this dark sea of everlasting foliage, and 
how grateful my eyes met them no one can conceive, 
unless he has lived in such a solitude. 

Now and then prairies are seen from the sea-shore ; 
but they do not extend far inland, and are merely 
sandy patches left by the sea in the progress of time. 

In this great woody wilderness man is scattered 
and divided into a great number of tribes. The 
forest, thinly inhabited by man, was still more 
scantily inhabited by beasts. There were no beasts 
of burden — neither horse, camel, donkey, nor cattle. 
Men and women were the only carriers of burden. 
Beasts of burden could not live, for the country was 
not well adapted for them. The only truly domes- 
ticated animals were goats and fowls — the goats 
increasing in number as I advanced into the interior, 
and the fowls decreasing. 

I was struck by the absence of those species of 
animals always found in great number in almost 
every other part of Africa. Neither lions, rhino- 
ceroses, zebras, giraffes, nor ostriches were found, 
and the great variety of elands and gazelles (although 
found almost everywhere else in Africa) were not to 
be seen there. Travellers in my locality would never 
dream that such vast herds of game could be found 
on the same continent as those described by dif- 
ferent travellers. Hence large carnivorous animals 
are scarce ; leopards and two or three species of 



408 PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY AKD CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

hyenas and jackals only being found. Little noc- 
turnal animals are more common, but they are very 
difficult to get at. Eeptiles abound in the forest. 
There are a great many species of snakes, the greater 
part of which are very poisonous. Some are ground- 
snakes, others spend part of their lives upon trees, 
while some are water-snakes. Among the ground- 
snakes one of the most to be dreaded is the Clotho 
nasicornis. There are several species of Echis and of 
Athens ; these are generally found upon trees ; they 
are small and very venomous. A very dangerous 
snake is the black variety of the cobra {Dendraspis 
angusticeps). This snake is much dreaded, for, 
when surprised or attacked, it rises up as if ready to 
spring upon you. There is also a large water-snake 
found often in the beautiful clear water of the streams 
of the interior, described by Dr. Grunther under the 
name of Siturophaga grayii. I have often seen this 
snake coiled up and resting on the branches of trees 
under water. 

Lizards are also abundant in some districts, and it 
is amusing to watch how they prey on the insect 
world. Among them I noticed a night species, that 
lives in the houses, and which is the great enemy 
of cockroaches. They are continually moving from 
one place to another during the night in search of 
their prey. During the day they remain perfectly 
still, and hide themselves between the bark of trees 
forming the walls of the huts. 

The country is also very rich in spiders; they 
are of wonderful diversity of form. Some of them are 
80 large, and their webs so strong, that birds are 



Chap. XX. SPIDERS- INSECTS. 409 

said to be canght in tliem. There are house-spiders, 
tree-spiders, and ground-spiders. These spiders are 
exceedingly useful, and rid the country of many un- 
pleasant flies. How many times I have seen them 
overpower prey which seemed much stronger than 
themselves ! The web-spiders seemed to have but a 
few enemies, but the house and wall-spiders, which 
make no web, have most inveterate enemies in the 
shape of two or three kinds of wasps. During the 
day I have seen these wasps travelling along the 
walls with a rapidity that astonished me, and, finally, 
when coming to a spider, immediately pounce upon 
the unfortunate insect and overpower it by the 
quickness of the movements of their legs, and succeed 
in cutting one after the other the legs of the spider 
close to the body, and then suck it, or fly away with 
it to devour it somewhere else. 

I consider some species of ants, snakes, lizards, and 
spiders as most useful, for they destroy a great 
quantity of insect and other vermin. The great mois- 
ture of the country I have visited, with its immense 
jungle, is well adapted for the insect world, and 
would prove a very rich field to a naturalist and 
collector who would make it his special study and 
business. I was surprised how closely several of 
them mimicked or imitated other objects ; some looked 
exactly like the leaves on which they most generally 
remain ; others are exactly of the colour of the bark 
of trees on which they crawl ; while others looked 
exactly like dead leaves, and one or two like pieces 
of dead branches of trees. Dragon-flies of beautiful 
colour were met near the pools. 
28 



410 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

Bats are very abundant, and I had succeeded in 
making a fine collection of tliem. They sometimes 
came by hundreds and spent the whole of the night 
flying round a tree which bore fruits they liked, and 
the noise made by their wings sounded strangely 
amid the stillness which surrounded them. 

Squirrels are rather numerous, and there are a 
good number of species. Birds of prey and snakes 
are their great enemies. In ' Equatorial Africa ' I 
described how I saw a snake charming a squirrel, 
and made the little creature come to him. 

There are eight species of monkeys, but they are 
not all found in every district. They live in troops, 
but when old they live generally by themselves or in 
pairs. Of all the Mammalian animals inhabiting 
the forest the monkey tribe is the most numerous; 
but the poor monkey is surrounded by enemies^ the 
greatest being man, who sets traps everywhere to 
catch him; then he is continually hunted by the 
negroes with guns or arrows ; the guanonien, an 
eagle, is also his inveterate enemy. 

The guanonien is a most formidable eagle, and, in 
spite of all my endeavours, during my former and 
this last journey, I have been unable to kill one ; but 
several times I have been startled in the forest by 
the sudden cry of anguish of a monkey who had been 
seized by this "leopard of the air," as the natives 
often call it, and then saw the bird with its prey dis- 
appear out of sight. 

One day, hunting through the thick jungle, I came 
to a spot covered with more than one hundred skulls 
of monkeys of different sizes. Some of these skulls 



Chap. XX. THE GUANONIE]^— APES. 411 

must have been those of formidable animals, and 
these now and then succeeded, it appears, in giving 
such bites to this eagle that they disabled him. For 
a while I thought myself in the Valley of Golgotha. 
Then I saw at the top of a gigantic tree, at the foot 
of which were the skulls, the nest of the bird, but 
the young had flown away. I was told by the 
natives that the guanonien comes and lays in the 
same nest year after year. When an adult specimen 
will be procured, it may be found to rival in size the 
condor of America. 

By the side of wild men roamed the apes, the chim- 
panzee forming several varieties. These are called 
by the negroes the Nschiego, Nschiego Nkengo, 
Nschiego Mbouve, and Kooloo Kamba, all closely 
allied, and I think hardly distinguishable from each 
other by their bony structure. Then came the largest 
of all, the gorilla, which might be truly called the king 
of the forest. They all roamed in this great jungle, 
which seems so well adapted to be their homes, for 
they live on the nuts, berries, and fruits of the forest, 
found in more or less number throughout the year ; 
but they eat such a quantity of food that they are 
obliged to roam from place to place, and are found 
periodically in the same district. 

The elephant has become scarce, and recedes 
farther and farther every year into the fastnesses 
of the interior. 

Miles after miles were travelled over without hear- 
ing the sound of a bird, the chatter of a monkey, or 
the footstep of a gazelle, the humming of insects, the 
falling of a leaf ; the gentle murmur of some hidden 



412 PHYSICAL aEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

stream only came upon our ears to break the dead- 
ness of this awing silence, and disturb the grandest 
solitude man can ever behold — a solitude which often 
chilled me, but which was well adapted for the study 
of Nature. 

I was surprised at the small number of new birds 
I found. I did not find more than ten species dif- 
ferent from those of my former collections. 

At a certain distance from the coast hills com- 
mence, which gradually increase in elevation, and 
form mountain ranges, running parallel to each other 
in a south-east and north-west direction. They 
range along the whole of the western coast, and 
seem to bear themselves towards the southern part 
of Africa. 

Between these mountains and the sea the country 
I' have explored is generally low and marshy. 
Several rivers rising on the western slope of the 
first range flow through these lands and discharge 
themselves into the sea.* Consequently these rivers 
are short, and being so near together^ the quantity of 
water they throw into the sea is not great. The 
most important commercially being the Gaboon, on 
account of its port. 

I mentioned, in ^Equatorial Africa,' that I had 
been surprised by the enormous quantity of water 
discharged into the sea by the rivers forming the 
delta of the Ogobai. I further said that the Ogobai 
was formed by two rivers, the Rembo (river) Okanda 
and the Eembo Ngouyai ; the former I had not seen, 

* Names of rivers — Benito, Muni, Monda, tlie delta of the Ogolxd, 
Nazareth, Mexias, Fernand Vaz, and the Commi river. 



Chap. XX. EIVEK SYSTEMS. 413 

but it runs, according to wliat I heard, from a north- 
east direction ; the latter from a south-east direction. 
The Ngouyai I had seen and crossed in my journey 
to the Apingi country. My further explorations this 
time have led me higher up the stream, and proved 
that my former conclusions were correct. 

These two rivers are the only ones that break 
through the coast chains of mountains, and thus we 
must not wonder at the tremendous amount of water 
they throw into the sea, in despite of the enormous 
absorption by radiation, when we consider the very 
great amount of rain falling in the interior. 

Between the Niger and the Congo there is no 
river that brings down such a quantity of water as 
the Ogobai. The enormous amount of rain that falls 
in these equatorial regions will account at once for 
the greater volume of water of this river, which 
has a far greater basin than all the other rivers 
between the Congo and the Niger. 

The first table-lands of the interior gradually slop- 
ing down eastward, form a valley. In this valley 
from the north-east the Eembo Okanda glides gra- 
dually southward, increasing by numerous streams 
until it unites with the Eembo Ngouyai. I have 
heard that the Okanda has several rapids. 

The Rembo Ngouyai comes from the south-east, and 
flows northward, gradually increasing by its tributa- 
ries ; it breaks through the range of mountains, forms 
a series of falls and rapids, unites with the Okanda, 
and then the two rivers take the name of Ogobai. 

Going eastward in my present journey the land 
rose higher and higher until we reached Niembouai 



414 PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

Olomba ; it tlien sloped gradually towards the east, 
with small streams running in that direction, and 
flowing no doubt towards the large river mentioned 
by the natives — a river that may be the Congo, or 
one of its large tributaries. I should think that it 
was about two degrees further eastward, somewhere 
about 15° or 16° east longitude. 

After I had drawn attention to the great basin of 
the Ogobai, the attention of the French Government 
was attracted towards it, and two expeditions have been 
made ; one in the year 1862, and the other in 1864. 

Unfortunately the two expeditions chose the worst 
time of the year for their errand^ the dry season, 
when the rivers are shallow and full of banks. 

The first expedition did not reach the junction 
of the Okanda and the Ngouyai ; but afterwards, 
M. Serval, whose enterprise is an honour to the 
French navy, from the Upper Gaboon crossed by 
land to the Ogobai, and reached a point not far from 
the junction.* 

* The map made "by M. Serval appeared after I had started a second 
time for Africa, and was sent to me by my friend M. V. A. Malte-Bran, 
with a kind letter saying how glad he was that I was vindicated; for 
some people had said in England that I had gone nowhere, and Dr. Barth 
had done me the honour to map the furthest parts of my exploration as 
only a few miles into the interior. 

I have not seen Eliva Olanga, called by Serval, Eliva Jonanga. When 
at the Falls of Ngouyai, I heard that it was on the other side of the Ashan- 
kolo mountains. With regard to latitude, its position would agree with 
my map, but my astronomical observations for longitude put it more to the 
westward than M. Serval does. I should not trust, perhaps, entirely to my 
observations while at Olenda; but at Mayolo I took a great number of 
observations of lunar distances, and the longitude of this place may there- 
fore be considered as well determined. 

An eliva is not properly a lake, but really a broad extension of a river 
between ranges of hills. 



Chap. XX. FKENCH EXPLOEESTa EXPEDITIONS. 415 

The second expedition was a like failure ; it com- 
menced exploring in July instead of waiting until 
November. Nevertheless it had a great advantage 
over the first ; for it had a small steam tender besides 
a larger steamer. The expedition went as far as the 
junction of the Okanda and JSFgouyai. Unfortunately, 
I have never seen any published record of this 
interesting exploration, which went a little further 
than the first. The exploration of the Okanda will 
be a great service rendered to geographical science. 
The French having possession of the Gaboon, no 
one could do it better than they. 

Climate, — Now that I have given a general view 
of the configuration of this part of Africa, I will 
speak of the climate. 

Unfortunately the book in which was recorded all 
my observations concerning the amount of rain fall- 
ing, the duration of the showers or storms, the heat 
of the sun and of the atmosphere, has been lost ; 
now and then I recorded in my journal a few ob- 
servations, so I shall not be able to give to the reader 
in this chapter a general resume of the daily record. 

The Ashango mountains seem to be, if I may use 
the negro expression, the home of the rain. I doubt 
very much whether in any other country in the 
world it rains more than in the mountainous regions 
of the interior. On the western coast, near the 
equator, there are only two seasons, the rainy and 
the dry, as described in ' Equatorial Africa.' 

The rain begins in September and ends in May. 
In 1864 a long dry season took place, as I have said 
in the course of this narrative, called enomo onguero; 



416 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

this is an exception to the rule. The dry season 
lasts from June to August. 

As far eastward as Mayolo, or rather, I may say, 
as far as the mountains inhabited by the Ishogos, the 
seasons keep themselves pretty distinct; but as the 
reader may see on perusing my book, the further I 
went eastward, the less distinct became the dry season. 

The dry season came from the west and the rain 
from the east. North of the equator the rain seemed 
to come from the north-east. South of the equator 
it seemed to come almost direct from the east. The 
more I advanced in the Ashango country the higher 
the land became, and also the more moist ; but there 
was no thunder or lightning or heavy rain. At that 
time the state of the Eckmiihl river, of the Ngouyai, 
and of its affluents showed, as the reader will see, 
that they were far below their height of the wet 
season. It is a remarkable fact that the higher I 
went up these streams, the more they had fallen. 

It is clear that it rains more or less in the moun- 
tainous regions of the interior throughout the year, 
and if it rains there when it is the height of what 
is called by them the dry season, what must it be 
in their rainy season ? The amount of rain must be 
far more than in the countries near the sea-shore. I 
noticed in my former journey, while among the can- 
nibals (chap, xviii. page 320), the cloudy and rainy 
state of the atmosphere in August. 

The highest fall of rain I noticed before my rain- 
gauge disappeared, was 7 J in. in twenty-four hours, 
and, as far as I can remember, more than 200 inches 
fell near the sea-shore during the year. 



Chap. XX THE SEASONS. 417 

I have given so lengthy an account of the seasons 
in ' Equatorial Africa ' that I need not here enlarge 
upon this subject. 

As I advanced into the interior the prospect be- 
came apparent of a continuous rainy season, for the 
books of Burton, Speke and Grant, showed me that 
I had probably nothing other to expect. The distin- 
guished discoverer of Lake Tanganyika says in his 
'Lake Eegions of Central Africa,' page 287 : — " As 
it will appear, the downfalls of rain begin earlier in 
Central Africa than upon the Eastern Coast." 

It has been seen that I made the same observation 
in the West. In page 286 of the same volume, this 
accurate observer says : — " The Masiha or rains com- 
mence, throughout, in Eastern Unyamwezi, the 14th 
of November. In the north and western provinces 
the wet monsoon begins earlier and lasts longer. At 
Msene it precedes Unyanyembe a month ; in Ujiji 
two months. Thus the latter countries have rainy 
seasons which last from the middle of September to 
the middle of May." 

It will be seen by this, that the rainy season on 
the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, falls at the 
same time as in Western Equatorial Africa, although 
the two countries are separated by about twenty de- 
grees of longitude. 

The lamented Speke says: — "While on the 
equator, or rather a trifle north of it, it rains more or 
less all the year round. In the dry season it blows 
so cold, that the heat is not distressing." 

My observations agree with those of Burton in 
this, that although we are on the two extreme sides, 



418 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

east and west, we observe tliat the rains come from 
the interior. 

The observations of Speke agree entirely with 
mine concerning the weather under the equator. We 
must therefore come to the conclusion that the rains 
proceed from some central woody and mountainous 
district somewhere between the east and west coasts, 
where, no doubt, exist several lakes not yet dis- 
covered. 

In reading the account of the ill-fated expedition 
of Tuckey on the Congo, we read, page 200 and 
201:— 

'' September 1. The rains commence the latter end of 
September, and continue to March. 

" This day we observed, for the first time, a rise in 
the river. 

'' September 4. Eain falling." 

This sudden rise of the Congo will, no doubt, occur 
owing to the rains coming from the northward — that 
is, from towards the equator. I must remind the 
reader of the cloudy and misty state of the atmo- 
sphere, which I have described in the mountains of 
the interior ; there were showers, which were becom- 
ing heavier every day, in July, and I learned from 
the natives that about a month afterwards the heavy 
rains would begin. This would account for the rise 
of the Congo. 

What struck me was, while at Mayolo, the great 
perturbation of the magnetic needle during torna- 
does. As the tornado rose above the horizon there * 
seemed to be a dip of the magnetic needle ; then, as it 
rose higher, the needle took its natural position, and 



Chap. XX. TEMPEEATUEE. 419 

then vibrated sometimes for thirty seconds. This I 
observed in the prismatic compass, the only instru- 
ment I had. 

The temperature of the countries I have ex- 
plored, though situated near or under the equator, 
is not so high as that of several countries further 
removed from it, but I must say beforehand that I 
am unable to judge of the temperature of the furthest 
countries that I visited, for I was not there in the 
hot season; and I have no doubt that the heat is 
sometimes still greater there than what I have ob- 
served, as it was greater at Mayolo than on the sea- 
shore. It has been noticed long ago that the tem- 
perature of countries situated under the same degree 
of latitude varies considerably. The extent of the 
sea, deserts, the prevailing winds, the gulf stream, 
the elevation of continents, &c., have a powerful 
influence. So Africa, under the equator from west 
to east, may have different temperatures, according 
to its physical features. 

In Western Equatorial Africa, the great moisture 
of the country and the vast forests are, no doubt, the 
causes of the heat not being so great, the immense 
jungle absorbing the heat radiated by the sun. The 
hottest months of the year are December, January, 
February, March, and April. In May, the tem- 
perature begins to decrease ; in June it begins to be 
cool, and July and August are the coldest. Then as 
the rains commence to make their appearance, the 
heat begins to increase. 

The same periodical changes of temperature, as far 
as I have been able to judge, apply to the coast and 



420 



PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 



to the countries of the interior. On the sea-shore 
the maximum of heat is from 86° to 88°, very seldom 
rising higher. In the interior, at Mayolo, the maxi- 
mum, I remember, was 98°; no sea-breeze was felt 
there.* 

In the interior, the maximum of heat in February, 
March and April was at about three o'clock p.m., the 
minimum between four and half-past five a.m. ; but 
after midnight, the thermometer fell very little. 

The coldest days experienced on the sea-shore, 
as observed by others, have been 64° and Q^°; I 
myself never saw it lower than 68°. During the 
dry season in July and August the maximum is gene- 
rally between 75° and 80°. I must here say that 
near the shore I took but very little notice of my 
observations, besides noting them down ; but in the 
interior it was different. While in the Ashango 
country, the temperature for a few days never rose 



* The following is a copy of a portion of my register of temperature at 
Mayolo, which was preserved in my Journal. The degrees are of the 
centigrade scale. 





In the Village of Mdjolo. 


In the Forest. 




AM. 


P.M, 


noon. 
12. 




P.M. 




10. 


12. 


1. 


2. 


3. 


4. 


5. 


6. 


7. 


1. 


2. 


3. 


4. 


5. 


April 
































1 


,. 




, , 


33 


33+ 


33* 


. , 


29 


29 




, , 


. . 


. , 




. , 


3 


^ ^ 


.. 


, , 


33 


33i 


33* 


. , 


, , 


29* 


; , 


. , 






. . 


, , 


14 


.. 


33* 






, . 




, , 


, . 


. , 


29 


30 










20 


33+ 




, , 


, , 


, , 


321 


. , 


, . 


, , 


. , 


30 


30 


30 


29i 


, , 


23 


,. 


32+ 


. , 


, , 


, . 


33^ 


2H 


, . 


, . 


30 




30 


. , 


30* 




25 




,. 


.. 


35+ 


, ^ 




. , 


, , 


. , 




30* 


30* 


, ^ 


. , 


29* 


26 


.. 


.• 


•• 


34* 


.. 


•• 


30* 


•• 


•• 


30* 


31 


31 


31 


30^ 


•• 


May 
































8 


, , 


, , 


. . 


34* 


. , 


33* 


33 


. . 


. • 


, , 


, , 


30 


29* 


29^ 


. . 


9 


, , 


. , 


33 


, , 


, , 


32+ 


, , 


, , 


, , 


. . 


, , 


29 


, . 




. . 


10 


, , 


. . 




, , 


. . 


33 


27 


, , 


, . 


, . 


, . 






. . 




16 


•• 


•• 


•• 


30| 


•• 


•• 


31 


•• 


•• 


•• 


•• 


28i 


28i 


m 


•• 



Chap. XX. HEAT OF THE SUN'S EAYS. 421 

higher than 72°, but I saw it as low as 64° at six 
o'clock a.m. The sky was constantly cloudy. But 
it does not follow that, though the heat of the atmo- 
sphere is less than in some other countries — the 
reasons of which I have given — that the heat of the 
sun would be less also ; at any rate, I hope that my 
few observations may awaken the spirit of inquiry 
on the subject, and that simultaneous observations 
of the heat of the sun and of the atmosphere may 
hereafter be made in different countries. 

But it will be necessary first to adopt a uniform 
system for ascertaining the power of the sun, and 
I will raise my humble voice in favour of the sub- 
ject being discussed. Unfortunately, there being no 
general system for ascertaining the heat of the sun, 
I used the one that appeared to me the most correct ; 
so I am afraid I cannot compare my observations 
with those of others. 

I had two thermometers, which I placed at some 
distance from each other, sometimes fifty or one 
hundred yards apart, sometimes nearer, and I was 
surprised at the closeness of their results ;• a degree 
was generally the maximum of difference. 

My thermometers were laid on a white board, in 
order to avoid the moisture rising from the earth, 
which was very great. I began these observations 
only in the Ashira country, and was not able to carry 
them further, for my sun thermometers were stolen 
on my journey between Ashira and Otando-land. 
The weather being warmer at Mayolo, I should have 
found the thermometer marking higher still than I 



422 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. Chap. XX. 

had at Olenda. The maxinnim, at Olenda, I found 
was 148 i, temperature of the air 92° and 94°. The 
rays of the sun were of the same power at ten a.m. 
and five p.m., varying generally from 118° to 125°; 
at noon, from 130° to 135°. 

These observations were taken in February and 
March. Towards one o'clock, the maximum of heat 
of the sun was attained. So it will be seen that the 
sun had passed its maximum at one, while the maxi- 
mum of the heat of the atmosphere occurred at three 
o'clock. The greatest heat in the shade this year at 
Mr. Bishop's observatory at Twickenham was 89°, 
whilst the heat of the sun was 106° only ; this shows 
the much less power of the sun in these latitudes 
than in Equatorial Africa, 

Making these observations in the heat of the sun 
were exceedingly exhausting, for I had to go near 
my thermometer with only a cap on, so that no 
shadow could fall upon it, and I could only carry 
them on after intervals of two or three days, for 
they generally produced a headache the next day. 

I remarked that sometimes a single cloud passing 
over the sun, at the time of observation, would send 
the thermometer down, in a few seconds, 8° or 10°, and 
sometimes more. While at Mayolo, I carried on my 
observations, almost at the same time, in an airy 
verandah in the village and in the forest. I found 
the temperature in the forest not varying more than 
1° (cent.) from one to three o'clock, while sometimes 
it had increased in an open space in the verandah 
to 7° or 8°; the temperature of the forest never 



CuAP. XX. COOLNESS OF THE FOEEST SHADES. 423 

reaching more than 31° centigrade, and then it is 
found rather pleasant. And well may the traveller 
thank Providence that with such a powerful sun he 
can travel under the protection of leafy forests, and 
be protected from its rays. 



CHAPTEK XXI 

ETHNOLOGY 

Isolation of tlie tribes in tlie interior of Western Equatorial Africa — Scan- 
tiness of the population — Divisions of tribes and clans — Patriarchal 
form of Government — Comparison of customs between Western Equa- 
torial tribes and Eastern — Laws of inheritance — Cannibalism — Migra- 
tions always towards the West — Decrease of population — Its Causes — 
The African race doomed to extinction. 

Now I must give a general outline of the numerous 
tribes of men tliat inhabit this vast jungle. 

In these mountainous recesses man is what we 
may call primitive; he is surrounded bj dense 
forests; no trading caravan from the east or from 
.the west, from the north or from the south, has pene- 
trated to him ; he has been shut up from the world 
around him, and in the course of his slow migration 
he has taken the place of others who had disappeared 
before him. The individuals who leave the interior 
country for the sea-shore never come back, to tell 
their countrymen of the white man or of the sea. 
The path is closed to them, there is a gulf between 
the sea and the interior^ but not between the interior 
and the seav 

What struck me in travelling through this great 
wooded wilderness was the scantiness of the popula- 
tion, and the great number of tribes speaking differ- 
ent languages and dialects. Tribes bearing different 
names considering themselves different nations, though 



\ 



I 



Chap. XXI. ISOLATION OF THE TEIBES. 425 

speaking the same language, and tribes speaking the 
same language divided from each other by intervening 
tribes speaking another language. These tribes were 
divided into a great number of clans, each clan inde- 
pendent of the others, and often at war with one or 
other of them ; in some tribes villages of the same 
clan were at war with each other. 

Part of one tribe in some cases have no knowledge 
whatever of the other part; the further I went 
towards the east the less the people travelled, the 
less they knew of what surrounded them, for thej 
had no trade to incite them to travel. I was never- 
theless struck by the. great affinities these tribes pre- 
sented to each other. The patriarchal form of govern- 
ment was the only one known ; each village had its 
chief, and further in the interior the villages seemed 
to be governed by elders, each elder, with his people, 
having a separate portion of the village to them- 
selves. There was in each clan the ifoumou, foumou, 
or acknowledged head of the clan (ifoumou meaning 
the ^'source," the " father "). 

I have never been able to obtain from the natives 
a knowledge concerning the splitting of their tribes 
into clans : they seemed not to know how it hap- 
pened, but the formation of new clans does not take 
place now among them. 

Kings never obtain power over large tracts of 
country, as we see in Eastern Africa ; the house 
of a chief or elder is not better than those of his 
neighbours. 

The despotic form of government is unknown ; 

no one can be put to death at the will of the chief, 
29 



426 ETHNOLOaY. Chap. XXI. 

and a council of elders is necessary before one is put 
to death. In such cases the palavers are long, and 
there must be a good majority for the sentence to be 
carried out. The intricacies of the law are unknown 
to them. A tooth for a tooth is their maxim. Wound- 
ing and killing by accident are not recognised as 
extenuating circumstances. If any one, by accident, 
kills another, by the falling of a tree which he 
cuts down being the cause of the person's death, 
he is killed. If a gun goes off by mishap and kills 
any one, the man who held the gun is put to death. 
According to their theory, the person causing such 
accident has an aniemha (witchcraft), and must be 
got rid of. But, though no one has a right to put 
to death any free man (for every one may kill his 
own slaves), woe to the man or woman who has in- 
curred the displeasure or hatred of the head of the 
family, for the latter is sure to bring, at some future 
time, some witchcraft palaver, and then oblige him or 
her to drink the much-dreaded mhoundou, or, by his 
influence, excite ihe superstitious fears of his people, 
and get rid of them, either by selling them into 
slavery, or by having them killed. Yery few cases 
occur in which the father of the family is made to 
drink the mhoundou, for he may compel any of his 
people to drink it. Every one is under the protec- 
tion of some one. If, by death, a negro is suddenly 
left alone, he runs great risk of being sold into 
slavery. Pretexts for such a deed are not found 
wanting. Every one must have an elder to speak 
his palavers for him, hence the young and the friend- 
less cling to the elder, who is like a father to them 



Chap. XXI. COMPAKISON OF CUSTOMS. 427 

all ; thus they do not become scattered, and the more 
people an elder has, the more potent his voice be- 
comes in the councils of the village ; besides, any free 
man, by a singular custom, called tola handa, which 
consists in placing the hands on the head of an elder, 
can place himself under the protection of the patri- 
arch who is thus chosen, and henceforward become 
one of his people. Of course, the man under whose 
protection another places himself belongs to a different 
clan. South of the equator the tribes were milder 
than those I had seen in my former journey north 
of the equator. I found no tribes where the villages 
were continually lighting with each other, as among 
the Bakalai, Shekiani, Mbondemos, Mbisho, and the 
Fans. The law of the strongest did not prevail ; 
no raid for the sake of plunder was committed by 
one village upon another ; one of the reasons being 
that no village was strong enough to do so — besides, 
the people of neighbouring villages intermarry much 
with each other, for polygamy, with its many draw- 
backs, had in some respects its advantages. 

Tribes and clans intermarry with each other, and 
this brings about a friendly feeling among the people. 
People of the same clan cannot marry with each 
other. The least consanguinity is considered an 
abomination ; nevertheless, the nephew has not the 
slightest objection to take his uncle's wives, and, as 
among the Bakalai, the son to take his father's wives, 
except his own mother. 

The reader will at once see the striking difference 
there is between the tribes of East Africa and those 
which I have visited. When we read Burton, Speke, 



428 ETHNOLOGY. Chap. XXL 

Grant, and Livingstone, we see that in tlie East the 
chiefs are powerful, often cruel, putting their subjects 
to death; villages of neighbouring tribes are con- 
tinually sacked, the cattle plundered, and the people 
killed or carried into slavery. Property seems to be 
secure nowhere. 

Polygamy and slavery exist everywhere among 
the tribes I have visited ; the wealth of a man con- 
sisting first of wives, next of slaves ; the slaves 
always belonging to a different tribe from that of 
their owner. 

Their religion, if it may be called so, is the same 
in all tribes. They all believe in the power of their 
gods (idols), in charms, fetiches or mondahs, and in 
evil and good spirits. Mahommedanism has not 
penetrated into this vast jungle. They all believe in 
witchcraft — which I think is more prevalent in the 
West than in the East — causing an untold amount of 
slaughter. Travellers in the East have not noticed 
it as prevailing so much as I have done. They 
behold with superstitious fear the appearance of the 
new moon. 

Their laws of inheritance are alike, except among 
the Bakalai. 

The Western tribes believe in the alumbi, a custom 
which Eastern travellers have not described, but they 
speak of chalk, and of little houses containing jaws 
or bones of men. 

The Western custom of the djemhai (see ' Equatorial 
Africa '), is known under another name in the East. 

The doctors of both East and West have the same 
powers and functions, and are called by nearly the 



Chap. XXL LAWS OF LC^THEKITANCB. ' 429 

same name, in both regions — Ouganga, Uganga, 
Mganga, or Nganga. 

The law of inheritance among these Western tribes 
is, that the next brother inherits the wealth of the 
eldest (women, slaves, &c.), but that if the youngest 
dies the eldest inherits his property, and if there are 
no brothers, that the nephew inherits it. The head- 
ship of the clan or family is hereditary, following the 
same law as that of the inheritance of property. In 
the case of all the brothers having died, the eldest 
son of the eldest sister inherits, and it goes on thus 
until the branch is extinguished, for all clans are 
considered as descended from the female side. 

What struck me also was that at each step occa 
sioned by death the heir changes his name. The 
chief of the Abouya clan of the Oommi was formerly 
called Oganda, then his next brother was called Quen- 
gueza, and another Kombe-Niavi, names which my 
friend Quengueza has successively borne^ being now 
called Oganda, and no one would dare to call him 
by the name of Quengueza. The title is generally 
assumed after the bola ivoga has taken place. 

On my second journey, Obindji, the Bakalai chief, 
was called Ratenou, having taken the name of his 
father — the Bakalai, as far as I know, being the only 
tribe among which the son inherits his father's pro- 
perty. 

The only custom I have not found prevalent among 
them all was cannibalism, the traces of which and 
records of which I have not found amongst any of the 
tribes inhabiting south of the equator which I have 
visited. In my former work on Equatorial Africa, 



430 ETHNOLOGY. Chap. XXI. 

after the many inquiries I made among the Fans of 
the interior, I learned that they and the people in the 
north-east direction were the only ones who ate human 
flesh, and that they did not know where cannibalism 
stopped. Hence I mentioned that cannibalism had 
migrated from north-east to south-west, and not from 
south to north ; my last journey has entirely demon- 
strated to me the truth of that hypothesis ; and it 
shows how little they travelled, that no one has ever 
heard of the Fans in the Southern country I have 
visited. 

The fables of all the tribes were nearly alike, and 
it is wonderful how they are handed down from 
generation to generation. 

Their languages, though not the same, have great 
affinities to one another, but they seem to have been 
derived from two distinct sources, namely from tribes 
of the north and north-east, and from tribes of the 
south-east and east. On this subject I must refer the 
reader to the Comparative Yocabulary given in the 
Appendix (HI.) to this volume. 

The question naturally arises, how such a slate of 
political disintegration as I have described has taken 
place. 

We must come to the conclusion that Africa has 
not escaped many political convulsions followed by 
great wars and migrations ; that the same natural 
laws which govern our race have prevailed in Africa, 
and that migration has taken place from east to west. 

I could learn nothing from them on these subjects, 
the past being a dark sea of which they knew nothing 
and about which they did not care. Some of their 




FAN WOMAN AND CHILD. FROM A FRENCH PHOTOGRAPH. 



Chap. XXI. MiaKATION TOWAEDS THE "WESl^ 431 

legends seem to imply that there had been great 
wars ; old men of the Commi tribe even remember 
when their clans were continually at war with each 
other. 

The migration of the tribes, as I have already 
observed, seems to have followed the same laws as 
migrations among ourselves ; I did not meet with a 
single tribe or clan who said they came from the 
west ; they all pointed towards the east as the place 
they came from. 

The migration of the Fans (people of which I have 
given an account in ' Equatorial Africa') has suddenly 
burst westward, and I believe that there has never 
been a migration with which we are acquainted in 
Western Africa, which has made so quick a descent 
on the sea-board. Fifteen or twenty years ago the 
Fans were only heard of by the sea-shore tribes, a 
few villages were said to be found in the mountains 
at the head water of the Graboon ; now the people 
have come down from their mountains and have 
settled everywhere on the banks of the Graboon ; 
their villages are numerous between the Moon da and 
the Gaboon, and are distant only a few miles from 
the sea ; indeed, the Fans are now seen often among 
the settlements of the traders. I give a represent- 
ation of a Fan woman, from a French photograph, 
which will give the reader a fair idea of a cannibal 
helle, I have also given a sketch of a group of Fan 
warriors, taken from a French photograph. 

These warlike people have swept everything before 
them. The Bakalai and Shekiani villages have not 
been able to withstand their onset ; and now Bakalai 



432 ETHNOLOGY. Chap. XXT. 

Shekiani and Fan villages are intermingled witli eacli 
other and often fighting with each other, for these 
three tribes are the most warlike in this part of Africa. 
The Bakalai and Shekiani are decreasing very fast, 
and the Fans in the course of time will take their 
place, and also that of the Mpongwe. 

What the cause may be of the sudden migration of 
these cannibals, I have not been able to discover. 

The migration of the Fans towards the western 
board is but a repetition of the former migrations of 
other tribes, the remnants of which we now see on or 
near the sea-shore. 

From the Gaboon to Cape St. Catherine the tribes 
bearing different names, and the tribes inhabiting the 
Ogobai as far as the Okanda, speak the same lan- 
guage, with the exception of the Aviia, who are said to 
speak the same language as the Loango people down 
the coast. The Mpongwe, Oroungou and Commi 
were once interior tribes. 

Quengueza pointed out to me the place where the 
people of Goumbi had their village, and where he 
lived when a young man ; it was about forty miles 
higher up the stream. The Abogo clan of the Commi 
of the Fernand Vaz supply the hereditary chief of 
the sea-coast tribe, on account of their having settled 
there first. 

The Bakalai themselves were strangers on the banks 
of the River Ovenga, and it is only of late years (about 
twenty years) that they have settled there by permis- 
sion of the predecessor of Quengueza. The Bakalai 
have only of late migrated from the north to the Ashan- 
kolo and hence to the banks of the Ovenga ; they have 



Chap. XXI. MIGRATION TOWARDS THE WEST. 438 

also migrated to the banks of the Ngouyai, and have 
scattered themselves further east than the Ovigui 
river. 

Old Remandji, the king of the Apingi, whom I 
visited in my first journey, remembered well the time 
when he could go with the Apingi to the Anenga 
tribe. Since then the road has been stopped, the 
Bakalai having made their appearance on the way 
there. 

The Shekiani have come and settled themselves 
on the sea-shore from inland, between the Mpongwe 
and Cape Lopez people. Three Ishogo villages have 
settled among the Apono, about two years before 
my arrival ; Ishogo and Ashango live in one village, 
and Ashango and Njavi do the same in another, the 
Njavi having migrated towards the west. All these 
are instances of what I advance, namely, that the 
tribes are always moving, and that the movement is 
towards the west. 

There are tribes that have remained a long time at 
the same place, such as the Ashira Ngozai, on account 
of the beautiful country in which they live : but lately 
many have expressed the desire to come and settle on 
the banks of the Ovenga, and would do so if it were 
not for the warlike Bakalai, who, since the plague, 
have dwindled down_, and will disappear soon unless 
strengthened by migration from the Bakalai of the 
north, who may be driven southward by the can- 
nibals. 

The reader will be able at once to see, by the 
description I have just given," how such political dis- 
integration has taken place, and how people speaking 



434 ETHNOLOaY. Chap. XXI. 

the same language have in tlie course of time been 
separated from one another, and finally come to con- 
sider themselves as different nations. We igiust con- 
clude that Africa has never been very thickly inha- 
bited ; hence the villages on migrating have settled 
where they chose. 

I have been struck with the steady decrease of the 
population, even during the short time I have been 
in Africa, on the coast and in the interior ; but before 
I account for it, let me raise my voice in defence of 
the white man, who is accused of being the cause of it. 
Wherever he settles the aborigines are said to dis- 
appear. I admit that such is the case ; but the decrease 
of the population had- already taken place before the 
white man came, the white man noticed it but could 
not stop it. Populous tribes whom I saw for a 
second time, and who had seen no white man and 
his fiery water, have decreased, and this decrease 
took place before the terrible plague that desolated 
the land had made its appearance. The negroes 
themselves acknowledge the decrease. Clans, in the 
lifetime of old men, have entirely disappeared ; in 
others, only a few individuals remain. 

Where the Slave Trade exists the population must 
certainly decrease in a greater ratio ; and where the 
fiery water is sold to the natives in great quantity, 
it must also affect their health. Happily the Slave 
Trade will never flourish as it did in times past, and 
it may be said now to be almost entirely done away 
with. In the country of my late exploration, the 
only people who continue the traffic in slaves are 
negro agents, from the two Portuguese islands St. 



Chap. XXL CAUSES OF DECKEASE OF POPULATION. 435 

Thomas and Prince's, wlio purcliase people for their 
masters, who are also negroes. They cross to and 
from the mainland in small canoes, and thus avoid 
the cruisers. 

The decrease of the African population is owing to 
several causes : — The Slave Trade, polygamy, barren- 
ness of women, death among children, plagues, and 
witchcraft; the latter taking away more lives than 
any Slave Trade ever did. The negro does not seem 
to diminish only in the region I have visited ; but in 
every other part of Africa, travellers, who after the 
lapse of a few years have returned a second time in 
the same country, have noticed a decrease of popula- 
tion. 

Tuckey, in exploring the Congo, noticed it, and 
expressed his astonishment at seeing the country so 
little inhabited, compared to what he expected from 
the accounts he had read of that river in the works 
of the Catholic missionaries. 

The women of the interior are prolific, and in de- 
spite of it shall we assume that the negro race has 
run its course, and that in due course of time it will 
disappear, like many races of mankind have done 
before him ? The Southern States of America were, 
I believe, the only country in which the negro is 
known to have increased. 

The reader who has followed me through the 
volume of my former exploration and the present 
book, will have been able to gather an idea of the 
general character and disposition of the negro of this 
part of Africa, as he now stands. I have made re- 
searches to ascertain if his race had formerly left 



436 ETHNOLOGY. Chap. XXL 

remains, showing that he had once attained a tole- 
rably high state of civilization ; my researches have 
proved vain, I have found no vestige whatever of 
ancient civilization. Other travellers in different 
parts of Africa have not been more successful than 
I have. 

How they came to invent looms to work their grass 
cloth, no one could tell. Their loom has been used 
from generation to generation without its being im- 
proved. To my question — '^ Who taught them to 
smelt and work iron ?" their answ^er was that as long 
ago as they knew, the people had worked in the same 
way. I think everything tends to show that the 
negro is of great antiquity, and has always remained 
stationary. The working of iron, considering the 
very primitive way they work it, and how easy it is 
to find the ore, must have been known to them from 
the remotest time, and to them the age of stone and 
bronze must have been unknown. 

As to his future capabilities, I think extreme views 
have prevailed among us. Some hold the opinion 
that the negro will never rise higher than he is; 
others think that he is capable of reaching the highest 
state of civilization. For my own part, I do not 
agree with either of these opinions. 

I believe that the negro may become a more 
useful member of mankind than he is at present, that 
he may be raised to a higher standard ; but that, if 
left to himself, he will soon fall back into bar- 
barism, for we have no example to the contrary. In 
his own country the efforts of the missionaries for 
hundreds of years have had no effect ; the missionary 



Chap. XXI. DESTINY OF THE AFEICAN KACE. 437 

goes away and tlie people relapse into barbarism. 
Thougb a people may be taugbt the arts and sciences 
known by more gifted nations, unless they have the 
power of progression in themselves, they must in- 
evitably relapse in the course of time into their 
former state. 

Of all the uncivilized races of men, the negro has 
been found to be the most tractable and the most 
docile, and he possesses excellent qualities that com- 
pensate in great measure for his bad ones. We 
ought therefore to be kind to him and try to elevat6 
him. 

That he will disappear in time from his land I have 
very little doubt ; and that he will follow in the course 
of time the inferior races who have preceded him 
So let us write his history. 



APPENDIX I. 



Descriptions of Three Skulls of Western Equatorial Africans — Fan, Asliira, 
and Fernand Vaz — with some Admeasurements of the rest of the 
Collection of Skulls, transmitted to the' British Museum from the 
Fernand Yaz, by P. B. Du Chaillu. By Professor Owen, F.K.S., &c. 

The pains and skill whicli M. Du Chaillu has 
devoted, under most difficult and trying circum- 
stances, to obtain from the scenes of his explora- 
tions in Western Equatorial Africa materials for the 
advancement of natural history, have earned for him 
the respect and gratitude of every genuine lover 
and student of the science for its own sake. 

Amongst those specimens which he succeeded in 
sending down to the coast for embarkation, before his 
furthest expedition into the interior, which ended, 
unfortunately for geography, so disastrously, was a 
collection of upwards of one hundred skulls of natives 
of Western Equatorial Africa, to which class of objects 
I had particularly requested his attention before his 
departure from England on his second journey to the 
gorilla-country. 

Of this collection, the chief part of which is now 
in the British Museum, I have taken admeasure- 
ments of ninety-three skulls, four of the chief of 
these admeasurements being given in a subjoined 
table. Of these skulls I have also profile views and 



440 SKULLS OF WESTERN AFRICANS. App. L 

outlines of the greatest horizontal circumference of 
the cranium ; and from the monograph in prepara- 
tion I have selected three specimens for more par- 
ticular description, from photographs of which the 
accompanying woodcuts have hieen taken. 

Figures 1, 2, and 3 are of the &kull (No. 24) of a 
male native of Fernand Vaz between twenty and 
thirty years of age. 

The cranium is narrow, and so is proportionally 
long ; the occiput is convex or hemispheroid ; the 
forehead low and narrow ; the parietal bosses scarcely 
marked ; the fronfal sinuses are slightly protuberant, 
the right more so than the left. Yiewing, with one 
eye, the upper surface of the cranium, held at arm's 
length, with the foremost part of the face just hidden 
by the frontal or supraciliary border of the cranium, 
the outer border of the hind half of the zygomata is 
visible. Viewed from the base, as in fig. 3, the in- 
tervals between the arches and the alisphenoid walls 
of the cranium appear of the greater width commonly 
characterizing the skulls of low races as compared 
with more advanced and bigger-brained people. 

The usual sutures of the adult are present, toge- 
ther with the outer half of that between the ex- and 
super-occipital (on the outside of the skull) ; the 
frontal suture is obliterated, as in most adult skulls. 
The lambdoid, or occipito-parietal suture, is moderately 
broad and crenulate, with a small '' wormian " ossicle 
on the left side. The mastoid suture is narrow and 
crenate where it joins the ex - occipital, but be- 
comes a linear "harmonia" as it extends to the 
jugular foramen. The masto-parietal is crenate but 



app. l male native of FEKNAND YAZ. 441 




Fie:. 1. 




Fi- 2. 




30 



Fig. 3. 
Skull, Male— Feenand Vaz. 

1. Side View. 2. Front View. 3. Base View. 



442 SKULLS OF WESTERN AFEICANS. App. I. 

narrow, and sinks anteriorly into a post-sqiiamosal 
pit. The sagittal suture is crenulate, but narrower 
than the lambdoid, where it leaves that suture ; it 
then becomes crenate,* again crenulate, but contracts 
to a wavy linear condition as it approaches the co- 
ronal. This is a minutely wavy line for about an 
inch and a half from the sagittal, then becomes finely 
crenulate and broader until about an inch from the 
alisphenoid, where it is crenate, and then again linear 
and wavy. A mere point of the upper and hinder 
angle of the alisphenoid joins the parietal, conse- 
quently there is no " spheno-parietal " suture. The 
spheno-frontal suture — the left ten lines, the right 
eleven lines in length — is linear, almost straight, 
slightly squamous. The squamo-parietal suture is, 
as usual, squamous ; the squamo-sphenoid is a linear 
harmonia, such also is the spheno-malar suture. The 
fronto-malar is continued forward from the spheno- 
frontal suture. The *' upper curved ridge" of the 
super-occipital is well defined, but without a median 
occipital prominence ; the more feeble lower curved 
ridge terminates above the persistent parts of the 
super-ex-occipital sutures. The par-occipital ridges 
J are moderately developed. The supra-mastoid ridges f 

are well defined through the depth of the supra-mas- 
toid groove running from the supra-mastoid or post- 

* By " crenate" I mean where tlie waves, or angles, or " denticulations" of 
the sutural margin do not send off secondary waves or angles ; in which 
case I use the term " crenulate." The breadth of the suture is the extent 
across which the waves or angles interlock. 

t * Descriptive Catalogue of the Osteological Series, Museum, Eoyal 
College of Surgeons,' 4to., 1853, p. 825, et seq. Syn : " backward exten- 
sion of the posterior root of the zygomatic process " in anthropotomy ; 
Sharpey's ' Quain's Anatomy,' ed. 1864, vol..i., p. 36. 



App. I. MALE NATIVE OF FERNAND VAZ. 443 

squamosal fossa towards the meatus auditorius ex- 
ternus. Above this the upper and outer border of 
the tympanic projects as a " super-auditory ridge." 
Stylohyals, one inch in lengtli, are anchylozed to the 
petrosal. The frontal is slightly protuberant above 
the spheno-frontal suture, between it and the begin- 
ning or fore-part of the temporal ridge. 

The nasals are short, narrow, concave lengthwise, 
convex transversely, but with little prominence. 

The malars slope outward to their lower margin, 
near which they are tuberous lengthwise. The an- 
terior alveolar part of the upper jaw slopes forward, 
as in -^g. 1. The contour of the bony palate (fig. 3), 
is that of a full ellipse. The molars (m 1, m 2) are 
smaller than in Australians. 

The angle of the mandible is well-marked ; the 
ascending ramus is subquadrate ; the incisive alveoli 
bend a little forward to their outlets ; a mere rough- 
ness takes the place of the " spinas mentales," on the 
inner or back part of the symphysis. 

The three true molars are present in each side of 
the lower jaw ; those of the left side, especially the 
first and second, are more worn than those of the 
right ; the third is on the grinding level on the left 
side, but has risen only half toward it on the right 
side. The age of the individual, as at the prime of 
life, may be inferred from this state of dentition ; it 
is also plain that the left side, or half, of the jaw had 
chiefly been used in mastication. The size of the 
three molars is inferior to that in Australian jaws, 
but superior to that in most Europeans. 

The cranium of this skull, in comparison with that 



444 SKULLS OF WESTEEN AFEICANS. App. I. 

of an European of similar general proportions, as to 
length and breadth, shows more of the elliptical, less 
of 'the oval, character of horizontal contour ; the 
European skull being wider, as usual, at the parietal 
bosses. The larger brain of the European has been 
accompanied also with greater height and breadth 
and forward convexity of the forehead, more pro- 
tuberant sides of the cranium below the temporal 
ridge, and a nearer approach to the horizontal plane 
of the part of the occiput between the great foramen 
and the upper curved ridge. The more produced 
and longer nasals, the less produced and more vertical 
incisive alveoli, the less prominent malars, also dis-' 
tinguish the skull compared, as they do the majority 
of modern European skulls, from those of Africans. 

The next skull w^hich I have selected for the pho- 
tographer is that (No. 57) of a male of the Fan, or 
cannibal race of "Western Equatorial Africa, figs. 
4, 5, and 6. It has belonged to a larger and 
more powerful individual than the former skull* 
The forehead rises higher, the parietal protuberances 
are more prominent, as is the sagittal region from 
which the parietals more decidedly slope towards the 
temporal ridges. The lambdoid, mast-occipital, masto- 
parietal, squamous, squamo-sphenoid, spheno-frontal, 
and spheno-malar sutures remain ; the sagittal, 
coronal and frontal, are obliterated; the horizonta. 
contour of the cranium is more oval than in the 
average European skull compared with the one from 
Fernand Yaz, owing to the more lateral contraction 
of the forehead in the Fan. 

The super-occipital is pretty regularly convex, as 



App. I. 



MALE OP THE FAN TRIBE. 



445 




Eig. 4. 




Fis:. 5. 




Fig. 6. 

Skull, Male— Fan. 

4. Front View. 5. Side View. 6. Base View. 



446 SKULLS OF WESTEEN AFKICANS. App. L 

in the former skull ; tlie surface — cliieflj ex- occipital — 
extending from tlie foramen magnum to the occipital 
protuberance, as in the former skull, forms with the 
plane of that foramen a less open angle than in most 
European skulls ; the vertical extent of brain there 
is less, and the occipital surface in question is not 
pushed down so nearly to the level of the plane of 
the foramen magnum. The occipital protuberance is 
stronger in the present skull than in the former, but 
the upper curved ridge extended from it sooner sub- 
sides, and the lower curved line is less marked. 
The foramen magnum is rather smaller ; the right 
par-occipital tuber is more produced. The mastoid 
processes are larger ; the supra-mastoid ridge is more 
curved, and extended upwards ; there is no post- 
squamosal pit; the super-auditory ridges'^ are more 
obtuse than in figs. !■ — 3. 

The lambdoid suture is feebly and irregularly cre- 
nate along its upper or medial half, and becomes 
crenulate at the lower half, resuming a linear simpli- 
city near its junction with the mastoid. A forward 
extension of the fore and upper angle of the squa- 
mosal shows plainly that it divided the part of the 
alisphenoid, which it overlies, from the parietal, on 
both sides of the head, and the spheno-frontal suture 
is shorter than in No. 24. The frontal sinuses make 
no outward prominence, and the glabella is continued 
by a gentle concave curve into the nasal part of the 
skull's profile. The nasals are broader, shorter, and 
less prominent than in No. 24. The malar s are 

* These are seldom wanting, and are not to be confounded witli the 
snpra-mastoid ridges. 



App. I. MALE OF THE FAN TRIBE. 447 

deeper, more uniformly convex, and have not the 
lower border turned outward. The forward direction 
of the upper incisive alveoli is the same in degree as 
in No. 24, but they are rather longer. The bony 
palate is more contracted anteriorly. The external 
pterygoid plates are broader, shorter, and more everted 
than in No. 24. The cranial walls are thicker and 
denser ; they are 4i lines thick in the parietal and 
frontal bones, along a section taken half an inch from 
the medial line of the calvarium ; the parietal is a 
little thinner at the boss, and thins as it descends ; 
but near the squamosal suture it retains a thickness 
of three lines. The diploe is scanty and feebly 
marked, and owing to the general density of the 
cranial walls the weight of the skull is considerable, 
being, without the lower jaw, 2 lbs. 2f oz. avoird. 

The molars, as in No. 24, are intermediate in size 
between those of Australians and the generality of 
those of Europeans. 

The third skull (No. 96, figs. 7, 8, and 9) is of an 
aged female, also of the Fan tribe, retaining only 
the two canines and one molar of the left side of the 
upper jaw, and with an edentulous mandible of a 
peculiar form, combining, with the usual character- 
istics of that condition in aged individuals, an upward 
production of the fore-part, through the "stimulus 
of necessity" of a biting proximity of the lower to 
the upper incisive alveoli between the retained upper 
canines, as shown in ^g. 7. The alveoli of the lost 
molars are absorbed in both jaws, but those of the 
lost incisors, though obliterated, have been main- 
tained in much of their pristine length, and have 



448 



SKULLS OF WESTEEN AFRICANS. 



App. T. 




Fig. 7. 




Fig. 8. 




Fig. 9. 



Skull, Aged Female— Fan Tribe. 

'I. Front View. 8. Side View. .9, Base View 



App. I. AGED FEMALE OP THE FAN TRIBE. 449 

become bevelled off to an edge, after tlie fashion of 
the scalpriforia incisors of Rodents. 

The cranium, tbougli smaller, resembles in general 
form and proportions that of the male Fan. The 
usual sutures, however, remain. 

The lambdoid is narrow, and the crenation hardly 
grows to crenulation toward the lower and outer 
end of the suture, where a small " wormian " is 
wedged between the mastoid and super-occipital on 
the left side. The occipital condyles are less convex, 
more worn down, than in the male skulls, as if from 
the practice of carrying weight on the head. The 
lower curved ridge of the occiput is well defined, and 
the surface between it and the foramen magnum 
shows the usual characters of muscular attachment, 
but there is neither an upper curved ridge nor occi- 
pital spine, and the surface above the lower ridge is 
convex, and smooth like the rest of the outer part of 
the super-occipital. The mastoid processes are small ; 
the supra-mastoid ridges low and smooth ; the super- 
auditory ridges very short. The parietal protuber- 
ances are as little defined as in No. 24. The sagittal 
suture is " crenate ; " the coronal suture is linear at 
both ends, crenulate but narrow at the mid-part. 
The apex of each alisphenoid joins the parietal; 
the extent of the spheno-parietal suture not exceed- 
ing three lines, that of the spheno-frontal suture is 
ten lines. The malars are not protuberant ; on the 
contrary, the outer surface of each is concave — a rare 
variety.* 

The deficiency of masticating machinery has pre- 

* This character is less truly shown in fig. 7 than in fig. 8. 



450 SKULLS OF WESTERN AFEICANS. App. L 

vailed long enough to affect the base of the zygo- 
matic process ; the chief part of the articular surface 
for the mandible is formed by the anterior_, slight 
convexity (eminentia articularis), the smaller depres- 
sion behind being unusually shallow. This approach 
to the character of the same articular surface in 
" edentate " mammals is not without interest. 

The bony palate is oblong and subquadrate : it is 
shallow, through absorption of its lateral walls : its 
surface is more than usually hard and irregular, 
through pressure against it, probably by tongue and 
mandible, of unchewed alimentary subtances, and the 
palato-maxillary and intermaxillary * sutures remain : 
the maxillo-premaxillary suture is obliterated on the 
palate as elsewhere. The internasal suture is partly 
obliterated at its upper half : the naso-maxillary 
sutures remain ; both are linear. 

The frontal sinuses are slightly prominent, and are 
accordingly more marked, in this old negress's skull 
(fig. 8) than in the strong man's of the warlike and 
cannibal tribe of Fans (fig. 5). 

The mandible shows strikingly the senile characters 
due to absorption of alveoli; the forward slope of 
the rami from the condyles; the reduction of the 
coronoid processes to a slender pointed form. The 
anterior outlets of the dental canals open upon the 
fore part of the broad shallow superior border of the 
horizontal ramus, which is left by the absorption 
of the sockets : anterior to each orifice the border 
shows a slight jDrotuberance of ivory hardness against 
which the obtusely worn crowns of the upper canines 

* The median palatal suture between the two maxillaries is here meant. 



App. I. 



DIMENSIONS. 



451 



had tlieir appulse. The trenchant, or transversely 
wedge-like, growth of the socketless incisive border 
of the mandible, rising between the upper canines, 
when the mouth is shut, has been already noticed as 
the peculiar feature of the present mandible. 

MEASUREMENTS OF THE THEEE SKULLS. 



Horizontal circumference of cranium ... 

From one auditory meatus to tlie other over vertex. . . 

Long diameter of cranium, outside 

Greatest transverse diameter, outside 

From anterior edge of foramen magnimi to that of 
the premaxillary alveolar border 

From arfterior edge of foramen magnum to hindmost j 
part of occiput j 

Length of skull, from premaxillary alveolar border to| 
line di-opped from hindmost part of occiput / 

Breadth of lower jaw, through angles . 

Longitudinal diameter of cranium, inside • 

Transverse diameter of cranium, inside 

Height of cranium, inside 

Length of foramen magnum 

Breadth of foramen magnum 

Height of alisphenoid in a straight line from foramen j 
ovale / 

Breadth of alisphenoid, upper border 

Breadth across zygomatic arches 

Transverse diameter of orbit 

Vertical diameter of orbit 

Inter-orbital space 

Length of nasal bones, in a straight line 

Transverse diameter, middle 

Transverse diameter, lower portion 

Height of the symphysis of the lower jaw, exclusive! 
oi'teeth / 



Nos. 



24. 



67. 



in. lines. 
19 4 



12 

7 
5 

4 

3 

7 
3 

4 
5 
1 
1 



3 

3 

3 

5 

9 
10 

10 

8 

4^ 

21 

1 11 

11 
5 3 



11 

10 

3^ 

5i 

1 3 



in. lines. 
22 



13 

7 
5 




3 

2 



10 



10 

7 
4 



11 

9 

5 

7 



96. 



in. lines. 
18 3 



12 
6 
5 



2 

9 

8 

10 





1 11 

lOi 
4 7 

1 6 
1 3 
11 
10 
5 
9 

11 



452 



SKULLS OF WESTEEN AFKICANS. 



App. L 



The following are three of the dimensions of ninety- 
three skulls from Fernand Yaz and the Interior : — 



No. 



1 

2 
3 
4 
5 

6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 



Length 

of 
Skull. 



in. lines. 

7 9 

7 10 

8 
8 4 

10 

10 

10 



10 

5 

6 

7 



1 



5 

10 





10 



4 



10 
10 
6 
5 


10 


1^ 



Length 
of 

Cranium. 



Breadth 
of 

Cranium. 



Circum- 
ference of 
Cranium. 



in. lines. 
7 



7 
7 
6 
6 
6 
6 
7 
6 
7 
6 
6 
6 
7 
6 
7 
7 
6 
7 
6 
7 
6 
7 
7 
6 
7 
6 
7 
7 
7 
7 
6 
6 



in. lines, 
5 



5 





5 


3 


5 


3 


5 


3 


5 


3 


5 


4 


5 





5 





5 


6 


5 


3 


5 


3 


5 





5 


6 


5 





5 


6 


5 


4 


5 


2 


5 


6 


5 


3 


5 


3 


5 


4 


5 





5 


3 


5 


3 


5 


2 


5 





5 


3 


5 


6 


5 


3 


5 


3 


5 


6 


5 


3 



in. lines.. 
19 6 



20 
19 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 
20 
18 
18 



17 10 
19 6 



18 
19 
18 
17 
19 
18 
19 
18 
18 
19 
18 
19 
17 
18 
19 
18 
19 
18 
18 



No. 



34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
48 
49 
50 
51 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 



Length 

of 
Skull. 



in. lines. 
8 




7 

4 
1 
7 
10 

7 

7h 
10 

9 



3 

2 

1 



2 
10 

3 
11 

3 

3 


10 

7 

2 

5 

7 

2 

5 
10 



Length 

of 
Cranium. 



in. lines, 
6 9 



7 
6 
7 
6 
6 
6 
7 
7 
6 
6 
6 
6 
7 
7 
7 
6 
6 
7 
6 
7 
7 
6 
7 
7 
6 
6 
6 
7 
6 
6 
7 
6 



Breadth 

of 
Cranium. 



in. lines, 
5 6 



5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
4 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 



Circum- 
ference of 
Cranium. 



in. lines 
18 6 



19 
18 
19 
18 
17 
18 
18 
19 
17 
17 
18 
18 
19 
20 
19 
18 
18 
19 
18 
19 
18 
18 
22 
19 
18 
18 
18 
19 
18 
18 
19 
18 




3 
9 
6 

3| 

6 

9 

4 

9 

3 

3 

3 

3 





6 

6 

3 



3 

9 

3 



3 

3 



9 

9 

3 

6 

3 

9 






App. L 



DIMENSIONS. 



453 



No. 


Length 
of 

.Skull. 


Length 

of 
Cranium. 


Breadth 

of 
Cranium. 


Circum- 
ference of 
Cranium. 


No. 


Length 

of 
Skull. 


Length 

of 
Cranium. 


Breadth , 

of 
Cranium, 


Circum- 
ference of 
Craninm. 


G7 


in. lines. 
7 10 


in. linos. 
6 6 


in. lines. 
5 6 


in. lines. 
18 6 


81 


in. lines. 
8 2 


in. lines. 
7 


in. lines. 
5 6 


in. lines. 
19 


68 


7 7 


6 6 


5 3 


17 9 


82 


8 


7 


5 3 


19 3 


69 


8 


7 


5 3 


19 


83 


8 


7 


5 


19 


70 


8 


7 


5 3 


18 9 


84 


8 


6 9 


5 3 


18 9 


71 


7 10 


7 


5 3 


18 9 


85 


7 


6 6 


5 


17 3 


72 


8 


7 3 


5 6 


19 6 


86 


7 10 


7 


5 9 


19 3- 


73 


7 10 


7 


5 3 


18 9 


87 


8 3 


7 3 


5 3 


19 3 


74 


8 


7 


5 3 


19 


88 


8 2 


7 


5 3 


18 9 


75 


7 7 


6 6 


5 


18 


89 


8 2^ 


7 


5 6 


19 


76 


8 3 


7 3 


5 6 


19 6 


90 


7 10 


6 6 


5 


17 6 


77 


7 10 


6 6 


5 6 


18 9 


91 


7 10 


6 6 


5 3 


18 3 


78 


8 


6 6 


5 


18 


92 


7 10 


7 


5 6 


19 


79 


7 4 


6 9 


5 3 


17 9 


93 


7 3 


6 1 


5 


18 3 


80 


8 


7 


5 3 


18 6 













Making allowance for difference of sex — tlie skulls 
not exceeding seven inches eiglit lines in length, 
being most of them plainly female — the range of 
diversity is here much less than would be found in 
the same number of European skulls from a locality 
of the same extent as the ground from which M. Du 
Ohaillu gathered the above collection. 

And this comparative conformity appears to de- 
pend on a corresponding uniformity in the manner 
of life, in the fewer wants, the less diversified pur- 
suits, of the Equatorial Africans. Their food, the 
mode of obtaining it, the bodily actions, muscular 
exertions, and mental efforts stimulating and govern- 
ing such acts, vary comparatively little in the people 
visited by M. Du Chaillu. The cannibal habits of 
the Fans offer the main difference, and with them 



454 SKULLS OF WESTEEN AFRICANS. App. I. 

are associated tlie larger cranial dimensions, as a 
general rule. But, in all, the prevalent low social 
status, the concomitant sameness, and contracted 
range, of ideas — the comparatively limited variety 
in the whole series of living phenomena, from child- 
hood to old age, of human communities of the grade 
of the Ashiras and Fans — govern the conformity of 
their low cranial organisation. 

In my work on the Archetype skeleton I note, 
among other characters of the general homology of 
bones of the human head, the degrees of variability 
to which the several vertebral elements were respec- 
tively subject.* 

The centrums and neurapophyses of the cranial 
vertebrse maintain the greatest constancy, the neural 
spines the least, in the vertebral column of mammals, 
as in the cranial region thereof in the vast series of 
the varieties and races of mankind : the haemal arches 
and their diverging appendages are the seats of in- 
termediate degrees of variation. 

Accordingly, between the lowest forms of African 
and Australian skulls and the highest forms of Euro- 
pean skulls, the difference in size and shape is least 
in the basi-occipito-sphenoids, in the ex-occipitals, 
alisphenoids, and orbitosphenoids : it is greatest in 
the super-occipital, parietals, frontals, and nasals. The 
maxillary and mandible are next in degree of varia- 
bility, especially at the terminal anterior part which 
represents the haemal spine, and is the seat of the 
characters which Ethnology terms "prognathism," 

* * On the Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton.' 8vo. 
1848, p. 137. 



App. I. CONDITIONS OF VAEIABILITY. 455 

"orthognathism," " opisthognathism." As in the 
neural, so in the haemal arches, the parts become sub- 
ject to variety as they recede from the centrum. The 
palatal bones (pleurapophyses) show most constancy, 
the maxillaries (haemapophyses) the next degree, the 
pre-maxillaries (haemal spines) the least constancy.* 

So, likewise, with regard to the centrums them- 
selves, the terminal one or " vomer " is more variable 
than those behind it. 

The tympanic (pleurapophysis) offers as few cha- 
racteristics to the ethnologist, as does the palatine. 
The malar bones and zygomatic arches — diverging, 
as appendages, from the maxillary arch — are seats of 
variety only inferior to the neural spines. The 
pterygoid processes are almost, if not quite, as vari- 
able as the malar bones. 

Accordingly, the variability or value of ethnolo- 
gical admeasurements depends on the vertebral ele- 
ments, or general homology, of the parts they may 
happen to include. The length of the skull is more 
constant than that of the cranium, in the entire 
series of human races, because it includes the ver- 
tebral centrums, whilst the other includes only neural 
spines. Moreover, the parts that chiefly vary the 
length of the skull are those behind the foramen 
magnum, and those before the palatine bones. 

The dimension from the anterior border of the 
foramen magnum to the fore part of the pre-sphe- 

♦ The range of variety in this vertebral element may be estimated by 
the fact that all the ordinal characters of the class of birds derived from the 
"rostrum" are furnished by modifications of the premaxillary and pre- 
mandibular bones. 



456 ETHNOLOGICAL TEEMS OP ART. App. I. 

noid, or to tlie palato-maxillary suture, is, perhaps, 
regard being had to sex, as constant as any. The 
part behind the cranial centrums is chiefly affected 
by the super-occipital ; the part in front by the 
pre-maxillary. The extreme height, breadth, and 
length of the cranium, with the curves and con- 
tours of the dome, help the ethnologist with the 
range of differences which it has pleased him to 
express by the terms : brachycejohalic, brassocephalic, 
brachistocephalic, subbrachycephalic, mesocephalic, 
mecocephalic, mecistocephalic, dolichocephalic, doli- 
chistocephalic, pyramidocephalic, ooidocephalic, cym- 
bocephalic, stenocephalic, eurycephalic, cylindroce- 
phalic, hypsicephahc, orthocephalic, phoxocephahc, 
sphenoeephalic, platycephalic, sphojrocephalic, cubi- 
cephalic, &c., with the terminal varieties, as in brachy- 
cepha^ows and brachycepha^y, played upon each 
compound ; to which add " phsenozygous," " crypto- 
zygous," as the cranial dome may give or hide a view 
of the zygomatic arches ; also dolichorhinous, brachy- 
rhinous, platyrhinous, or platyrhina^, &c., &c., for all 
the gradations of diversity of the neural spines of 
the foremost vertebra. 

There is no particular harm in such array or dis- 
play of terms of art — save where they are extended 
from signifying a gradation or variety of cranial 
form to the constant character of a race, a nation, a 
family, or a period — in the absence of that extent 
and amount of observation which is absolutely requi- 
site to prove or disprove such constancy. In the 
extensive series of skulls of the natives of a limited 
tract of the northern part of the peninsula of Hin- 



App. I. SKULLS OF AMERICAN INDM.NS. 457 

dustan, varieties of shape of tlie cranium were observed 
which might be expressed by at least half a dozen 
of the above-cited Greek polysyllables, and even of 
opposite extremes, and this, not only in the general 
series of Nepalese skulls, but sometimes in the minor 
series of a tribe or village.* Very analogous are the 
results as affecting " brachycephalic," dolicocephalic," 
&c., " families," ^' varieties," or " races," to which a 
correspondingly expanded survey of the skulls of the 
aboriginal Indians of America has led the accurate 
and painstaking ethnologist. Dr. Aitken Meigs.f 

In the first place he finds that, in the general 
series of aboriginal American crania, there ^ is a 
range of diversity of proportions of the cranial 
cavity, which would give the ethnologist grounds for 
distributing them into three groups : 1, DoUchocephali ; 
2, Mesocepliali ; 3, Bracliycephali ; but these are not 
coincident with areas or periods. Not any of them 
is distinctive of a particular family, or race, or nation, 
or other group, either according to time or to space. 
Thus the skulls of the Creek Indians may be, in a 
general way * eury cephalic,' i.e, shorter and more 
broadly oval than those of the Assinaboins, and 
these, in like manner, than the crania of the Ottawas. 
But among the Creeks is a specimen (No. 441) which 
is '^ brachy cephalic," and a skull of one of the Dacota 
Indians " stands between the Assinaboin's and the 
Creek's " (p. 37). Among the Osages of the Upper 

* " Eeport on a series of Skulls of various Tribes of Mankind inhabiting 
Nepal," in * Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science,' for 1850. 

t * Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
May, 1866. 

81 



458 SKULLS OF AMERICAN INDIANS. App. L 

Missouri is a " longish head, inclining to the Swedish 
form, occupying a position intermediate between the 
long and short heads" (p. 20) ; a third (No. 54) has 
'' the coronal region almost round, like that of the 
true Germanic head" (p. 19). Another specimen 
(No. 54) " belongs to the angularly round or square- 
headed Grothic type" (p. 19). Others, again, are 
*' brachy cephalic." Among the Blackfoot Indians are 
some skulls "decidedly dolichocephalic" (p. 17) ; but 
in No. 1227, of a Chief (and probably, therefore, with 
a more laterally expanded brain) the skull " occupies 
an intermediate place between the long and short 
heads " (p. 17). The skull of a Mohican also occupies 
" a position intermediate between the long and short 
heads, and approaches the Mongol form " (p. 20). 
" The Ottawas of Michigan may be partly referred to 
the arched type " (p. 22). But " No. 1007 is brachy- 
cephalic" (z6.). Others of this tribe, Nos. 1006, 
1008, 1009, "depart from this type and approach 
the Swedish form. I have consequently placed them 
in the *' dolichocephalic " division" (p. 22). The 
State of Michigan, however, was once occupied or 
hunted over by other aboriginal tribes, the Meno- 
minees, e.g., **the cranial specimens of which differ 
from each other not a little" (p. 22). 

The details of these differences are very instructive 
as to the degree of value of the terms of cranial 
shapes as denoting ethnological groups. Thus, after 
pointing out those approaching or attaining the 
" Brachycephali," Dr. Meigs writes : — " Among the 
Miamis of Indiana we again encounter the dolicho- 
cephalic type" (p. 22). But here also it is added 



App. I. CONDITIONS OF VAEIABILITY. 459 

that tlie skull of a Chief, No. 542, "is in many- 
respects like the G-erman heads in the collection, 
especially those from Tubingen, Frankfort, Berlin : 
it has the Swedish occiput" (ib.). "No. 1055 ap- 
proaches the angular Gothic form" (ib,). In others 
" the outline of the crown forms a more or less 
rounded oval" (ib.), "No. 106 approaches the 
arched type." " The specimens in the collection 
constituting the Seminole group vary not a little 
from each other" (p. 25). After descriptive details, 
Dr. Meigs proceeds : " It will thus be seen that in 
this group there are at least two, if not three, distinct 
types" (p. 26). 

How often one feels the desire to ask an author 
the meaning in which he uses the word " type " ! As 
applied to cranial configuration, the grades or shades 
of transition are such that the choice of any one step 
in the series for a term of comparison must be arbi- 
trary. 

With regard to the aborigines of America, the 
ethnologist may classify them according to their 
tribes, family names, or autonomy, or according to 
the districts inhabited by them, or according to their 
cranial characters. But, it is abundantly shown by 
Dr. Meigs, as, indeed, was to be inferred from the 
' Crania Americana ' of Moreton, that, with the arbi- 
trary assumption of certain proportions, dimensions, 
&c., as ** type-characters," the cranial classification 
would difier from the tribal or national, geographical 
or epochal one. 

What constitutes the prevalent "dolichocephalic 
type," ethnologically speaking, among the African 



460 SKULLS OF WESTEEN AFEICANS. , App. L 

skulls which have called forth the present remarks, is " 
not, as the term would imply, a greater length of 
cranium than in Indian and European skulls which 
would he called " brachy cephalic," or " hypsicephalic," 
but merely a want of filling out of the brain-case by 
lateral or vertical expansion. The dimension of 
" length " is more constant than that of " breadth " 
or *' depth " in the cerebral hemispheres of the human 
brain. 

Were the natives ofWestern Equatorial Africa, dis- 
covered or visited by M. Du Chaillu and represented 
by the skulls which he collected and transmitted, as 
constant, keen, and clever hunters as the North 
American Indians, there might then be expected to 
rise among them here or there an individual with 
qualities making him superior in his craft, and 
enabling him to direct and dominate over the more 
common sort. And in proportion as the brain might 
have a concomitant increase of size in such " Chief," 
we should expect the long (" dolichocephalic type ") 
to merge into the broad (" brachycephalic "), or lofty 
(" hypsicephalic), or globular (sphoerocephalic) modi- 
fications of cranial configuration. 

In all the Negro skulls in the present collection, 
as in those of Boschismen, Mincopies, Australians, 
and every other variety that has come under my 
observation, the essential characters of the archence- 
phalous subclass and of its sole genus and species 
are as definitely marked as in the skulls of the 
highest white races. 



APPENDIX II. 



INSTEUMENTS USED IN THE EXPEDITION TO 
ASHANGO-LAND. 

First Swpply, (From Mr, Fotter, successor to Gary.) 

1 Aneroid, brass, in morocco case, 2 inches in diameter, registering 

from 15 to 31 inches. 

2 Compasses, prismatic, with stand, shades, and reflector, 3 inches 

diameter (Singer's patent). 
2 Compasses, pocket (Singer's patent), Ij- inches diameter. 
Drawing instruments, one set in German silver, in case, 6 inches 

by Qj- inches. 
Drawing pins, 2 dozen. 
2 Horizons Artificial, folding roof, improved iron trough and 

bottle, in sling case. 
Hypsometrical Apparatus, viz. : — 

Bull's-eye lantern, copper boiler, 3 reservoirs for spirits, oil, 

or candle. 
3 Thermometers for heights by boiling water, marked to 

215°, in brass case. 
2 Thermometers, thermal or sun, marked to 230°, in brass 

case. 
2 Thermometers, graduated for Fahrenheit and Centigrade. 
1 Thermometer, graduated for Centigrade and Eeaumur. 

Magnetic-electro machine, with 90 feet of cord or conducting 

wire. 
2 Magnifiers, or reading glasses, large size. 
Mercury, 7 lbs. in stone bottle, as reserve supply. 
Parallel-ruler, Acland's pattern, 18 inches. 



462 LIST OF INSTEUMENTS. App. II. 

Protractor, circular, witli compass rectifier, in mahogany box. 

Protractor, circular, in brass. 

Eain gauge and spare glasses (Livingstone's pattern). 

Scale, 18 inches metal, graduated to inches, and subdivided to 

tenths and hundredths, in box. 
Sextant, 4 inches radius, silver arc, cut to 20". 
Tape, 100 feet. 

Extras, 

Spare glass for rain gauge; spare compass cards; leather skins 
to clean glasses ; tin foil, &c. 

Most of the above instruments were damaged by the canoe being 
upset, in attempting to land through the surf. 



Second Supply. 

2 Aneroids, brass, 2 inches diameter, registering from 15 to 31 

inches. 
2 Compasses, prismatic, 3 inches diameter, shades and reflector, 
1 Compass, pocket. 

1 Sextant, 6 inches radius, silver arc, cut to 10". 
4 Watches, by Mr. J. Brock (George Street, Portman Square). 
1 Watch, by Frodsham (Strand). 



BOOKS, &o. 



Nautical Almanacks, 1863-4-5-6. 
Work books, ruled to form. 
Skeleton Map, ruled in squares, 75 sheets. 
Memorandum books. 



EXTEA INSTRUMENTS. 



1 Sextant, 8 inches radius, presented by G. Bishop, Esq., 

Twickenham ; cut to 10". 
1 Binocular, presented by the Directors of the Night Asylum, 

Glasgow, after the lecture I delivered for that institution. 
1 Telescope, presented by the same. 
Universal Sun Dial, presented by the Eoyal Geographical 

Society. 



App. n. EEMAEKS ON INSTEUMENTS. 463 



Memarhs on the Instruments used in taking the Astronomical 

Observations. 

No. 1 Sextant, 4 inches radius, by Gary, was used for tlie altitude 

of the stars and planets in connection with a lunar. 
No. 2 Sextant, 6 inches radius, by Gary (the best instrument), 

always used for time, and in taking the distance in a lunar 

and meridian altitude. 
No. 3 Sextant, used for altitude of the moon under 120° (art. 

horiz.), and when more than that quantity one of the other 

sextants was used. 

All the above were lost in my retreat, except the watches and 
two aneroids. 



¥ 



¥ 



All the instruments above enumerated were carefully tested 
before leaving England. The aneroids brought back were 
again tested after my arrival. 

My watches proved to have kept very good time ; and I ought 
to express here my thanks to Mr. Brock, of George Street, 
Portman Square, for the care he took in supplying me with 
the best watches. They are still in good order ; and I am 
greatly indebted to Sir George Back for recommending Mr. 
Brock to me. The instruments by Mr. Potter, successor of 
Mr. Gary, of 181, Strand, proved to be excellent, and stood 
well the rough travelling they had to go through. 



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I— I 

d 

1-9 



App. II. 



OBSEKYATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES. 



467 



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468 



OBSERVATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES 



App. n. 



m. 

Q 



m 
I— I 

« 
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o 
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m 
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H 

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rH CO CO CO lO (N 



OS (M C5 C5 05 00 CO 
0<X)SOOOO<X>>0 



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k H S 



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lO rfl CO CO iH 



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00 



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CO 00 l> t> t^ (N (N 

O 00 lO »0 lO OO rH 




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00 00 00 00 00 00 05 



o o o o o o o 

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App. II. 



AT OLENDA AND MAYOLO. 



469 











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1 
















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1 

g 



470 



OBSEEYATIONS FOE LUNAE DISTANCES 



App. II. 



O 
CO 



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app. n. 



AT MAYOLO. 



471 



o 

CO 



CD 






CO 
CO 






CO 



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o 

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tH 









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o o 

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d d 
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o 

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o o o o o o o 

Tjl (M (M i-l CO 



CO l> O O r-l (M CD 
C<) CO >* T^ TjH '* JO 



|> T^ t> l> t^ O "* 

CO lO -<*< ^ Tji if5 CO 



o 
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lO 



o o o o o o o 

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00 05 t> CD CD O O 
lO iO iO CO CO 



05 tH 1— I 1— I i-H O »0 
l> t> O O O t> CO 



o o o o o o o 

(M CO >H (M (M "^ 



O Oi i-H O O t^ CO 
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CD CO rH rH )-( '^l (N 
00 CO O O O CD 05 



d 
d 

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O CO <N l> (M 
lO i-H 1-4 (N 






'<*< b- O (N '-J^ CD CO 
1-1 j-l (N (M (N (M <M 



CO CO CO CD CO CO CD 



CD CO 
CO 1—1 



O (M 

T-t iH 



O 00 I-l O CO ""itl o 

(N irj CO o lo 



O CO rH CO lO t> 00 
' I— 1 I— I J-* I— I I— I 

a a Oi a a d Oi 



rH rH Cq O (M lO O 
CO ■«*< I-l »0 CO <M 



O >-l O CD t> O (N 
<M (N (N (N (N CO CO 



d a Oi oi Ci Oi a 



472 



OBSERVATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES 



App.il 









9 
t 

S 

o 
(^ 

o 

I— ( 

i 

pq 
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H 










fl 
























aJ" 










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13 










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q5 








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s 








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a 






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in 


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^ 








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o 


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o 








o 




o 


o 


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i-l 




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^ 


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• 


tH 


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o 








r-t 


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o 


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d 




d 








d 




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o 


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c 




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8 

1 


= o 


o 


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o 


o 


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O 


O 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 




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rH Tt< 


CO 


CO 


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1 


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° 00 


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00 


oo 


CD 


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fi 


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05 


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o 


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fH 


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cq ^ 


r-i 


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rH 


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a 

Eh 


3 CO 


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00 05 tH 


CO 


»o 


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CO 


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o 


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CO 


CO 


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CO 


CO 


CO CO Ttl 


Tfl 


rH 


I— 1 


r-l 


rH 


rH rH 


r-< 


cq 


<N 


CO 


CO 


(M 


<M 




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OS 


Oi C5 Oi 


05 


05 


o 


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O 


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o 


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r->, 


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tH 














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Q 


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app. n. 



AT MAYOLO. 



473 











d 












ri 










d 












o 












s 










o 












M 












^ 










o 






m 














>o 










o 








1— 1 






o 








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CO 




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CO 
CO 






^ 












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CO 
CO 




^. 






o 






§ 








o 




s 






o 




1 






rl 






C/J 








rH 




w. 










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1— ( 






















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rjl 




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lO 


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00 


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to 


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r-1 




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l> 




05 


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I— 1 
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tH 


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CO 
1— 1 


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CO 


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CO 


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o 


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CO 


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cq 




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l> 


l> 


05 


05 


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05 


OS 





32 



<5 



474 



OBSEEYATIONS FOE LUNAE DISTANCES 



App. II. 



m 
'A 
O 

< 



P3 

t 

O 

o 

M 

H 

W 
O 



































• 




p4 












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g 




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d 








CO 




1 




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5 













S 












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1-^ 




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I 








tH 








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rH 




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> CD 


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a 


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1-i Ki 


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5 


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rH 


r-H 


r-< 


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05 


00 


CO 


r-{ 


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^ 


T-{ r-K 









la 


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cq (N 




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CM 


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t> 


10 


rH 


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t> 


i> t- 





10 




+s 


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CO 


CO CD 


CO 


r-H (M 


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CO 


CO 


a 


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CO 






r-l 


i-H 


CO 


CO 




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tH 


rH 


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CO 


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rH 


rH 





rH 


rH 




i 


c ^ 


05 


tH 


CO t- 





(N CO 


<N 


rH 


t^ 


05 


oc 


10 


00 


(M 10 


CO 











i-H 


r-( T-H 


r-\ 


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CO 


CO 


CO 


CO 




r-i 


r-i 


(M (N 


cq 


CO 




H 






































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I— 1 



I— ( 



i-H rH 



rH 





00 


00 


00 


00 


05 


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a 


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a 


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d 



































































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1 


































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n 












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^ 























App. XL 



AT MA YOLO. 



475 



. 10 33 

Planet W. of Moon. 


1 


► 11 36 15 

Sun E. of Moon. 


1 

o 






: 




78-8 




on 6 
on 2 40 

^ on 40 


o 

o 

a 

o 


on 40 
6 

• on 40 


on 30 












oooooooo 

CO CO i-( CO 

CDrHOCOrtHTtHOCO 
CO><tlCOCOCOCOlOiO 

cocoi>i>t>i>Ci'<*i 

i-H i-i 


105 35 30 

106 18 20 


oooooooo 

!>ThC50iC00500 
-* CO (M <N (M <M CO 

O5COCOCO000OI>CO 
(Ni-(10O10»0t-I(M 
ri tH rH i-I 


o o o o o 

r-l (M I-H CO 

■* <N O Oi -* 
CO -^ tri lO -^ 

tH CO (M CO 00 

t> t> t> c» 00 






. 










• • 


•"••••••• 


Sirius Alt. 
Spica Alt. 




Saturn Alt 
XAlt. .. 
Distance.. 

XAlt. .. 
Saturn Alt 


©1 ©1 


. O 

-t-3 -1^ d -1^ -4^ 
I-H I-H ^ r\ »x 0^ i-H f-H 

< < S - -^ -^ ^ < 

H (^ p Gj H 




'^leOi-Hb-cqcrqcortt 

i-l CO ■'tl CO ->*i 

CO'tlCDi-lTHCDOOO 
COCOCOTtiTtlTtt'^iO 

CiOiOiOiCiOiCid 


21 17 55 
21 19 31 


»oioo(NiOi-teoci 

lO CO ■* CO <N (N I-H 

CqiOOOOSOr-ICOCD 
COCOCOCOTJ^Ttl■<*lTt^ 


lO lO (M 00 O 
TjH CO (N CO 

(N rH CD i-H IC 
(N <N <M CO CO 

t> t> O O I> 





o 

a, 
< 



^ 
S 



476 



OBSEKVATIONS FOE LUNAR DISTANCES 



App.il 



O 
OQ 



o 
o 

o 



p4 












d 












• 








•a 












8 












8 








1 








o 




^ 













^ 









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— 










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<4h 






CQ 


§ 












o 























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^ 




^ 










G4 




H 






T-i 


c 












1:4 












^ 








tZ3 












C3 












03 








»^ 








1— t 




-^ 








iH 




-*j 






1-i 


s 


o 






rH 




QQ 








rH 




OQ 






1-^ 


tf 














































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^^^^^^ 


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p. 


i 










o> 












05 

• 








03 










b- 












l> 








E-i 


P=< 










t* 












t> 










= © 


O 




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i 




(M 




CO 












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iO 


"<*< 




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CO 




o 




• 


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CD 









. 


CO 


rH 





« 


1—t 










• 


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rH 






fl 







a 






a 


fl 




fl 






ri 


rt 


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1— ( 


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5 







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o 


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O 


o o 


o 





























000 


~ T-i 


(M 




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CO CO 


CO 


tH r-H 


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CO 


5 


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o 


05 0> 


00 


cq 00 


CO 


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a 


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r-f 


10 ,-^ 





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05 


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. 


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r-i 


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l> 


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l> 


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l> 


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-t-> 
































PI 






























S 


o 












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to 






rt 














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s 


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- 






ft 


' 





i 



App. II. 



AT MAYOLO. 



477 



ft 





















i 
















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§ 




























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S 




























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o 






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o 
















t> 






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o 


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o 


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, 


CO 


y* 




o 








, 


CO 


i-H 




r-K 






, 






o 








• 


o 


T— 1 




§ 










d 
o 


rH 




% 












§ 






o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o 


O 


O 


O 


o 




o 


o 


O 




CO 








»o 


CO 


(>4 


40 


r-< 




(M 






(N 


'^ 




rH 






1-^ 


''H 




1-^ 


(M 


o 


Ci 


CD 


lO 


»o 


Tt^ 


CO 


CD 


(N 


CO 


o 


O 


05 


05 


rH 




o 


CO 


<:i 




iO 


TtH 


OM 


■<*l 


rH 


rH 


r-\ 


r-i 




C^ 






y-K 


i-< 






CO 




rH 


o 


CO 




<M 


eo 


H^ 


CO 


l-O 


»o 


»o 


lO 


OS 


r-^ 


CO 


CD 


no 


»o 


»o 


»o 


(M 




CO 


00 


05 




CO 


1—1 

rH 


I— 1 


t> 


C» 


CX) 


CX) 


00 


CO 






CO 


00 


00 


00 


00 


CO 




CO 


00 


CO 


















. 


. 


. 




. 


^ 


. 


. 


. 


. 


rd 


. 


. 


. 




• 


« 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


* 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


bO 


• 


• 


• 






































:a 










, 




, 


. 


^ 


. 


. 


. 


, 


. 


, 


• 


• 


. 


. 


. 


. 


o 




. 


. 






































o 










-;^ 


5 


rt 


• 

-*3 


^ 








-1^ 


^ 


< 


• 


o 
o 

n 








-»a 


T 


< 




• 




< 


c3 
.2 


3 


■< 


e3 


•s 


•» 


- 


^ 


•«-3 


d 


^ 


-3 

02 


- 


~ 


•\ 


5 


-H 




*• 


«N 




H 


m 


c3 

m 


<=! 


n 








H 


03 


OS 


H 


p 








t- 


c3 
W. 


d 

t-5 








JO 


to 


»^ 


O 


»o 


r^ 


o 


00 


CO 


LO 


lO 


CO 


CO 


(M 


»o 


o 


CO 




o 


CO 


CO 




CO 


CO 


rH 


CO 




i-k 


CO 


CO 


tH 


"* 


»o 


<?4 


»o 




TtH 


CO 


o 




CO 


CO 






Ci 


(M 


t^ 


05 


(M 


tH 


CD 


t^ 


Oi 


1-{ 


Th 


CO 


t^ 


OS 


o 


M 


'^ 




o 


(M 


T** 




N 


CO 


-<*< 


Tt< 


»o 


iO 


iO 


*o 


lO 












rH 


rH 


T-^ 




T-i 


r-\ 


r-\ 




00 


CO 


GO 


oc 


CO 


00 


00 


00 


CO 


05 


<?5 


05 


Ci 


05 


05 


Oi 


05 




©5 




(M 

I-H 





478 



OBSERVATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES 



App. n. 



m 
Q 

xn 



P3 

P5 
o 

m 
o 

1—1 

pq 
O 





















d 














d 






p4 


















O 














O 
























O 














O 






1 


















g 














g 






















e«-i 














Cm 






"G 


2 










ao 






O 








o 






O 






a 


^ 










r-t 














CO 












3 


0) 
















H 














H 






a 

to 










00 






•+3 








o 






■4J 






•s3 










>o 






0) 








iH 






CD 
















O 






i 
s 








iH 






§ 

s 






rt 












—A 














__^ 












ex 

a 


J 
















o 














O 






c3 
















t- 














t- 






H 


pR 
















l> 














l> 










o 


O 


o 




O 








O 


O 




o 








O 


O 


o 




TJ^ 


»o 






CO 














CO 














- 


o 


CD 


00 




o 






. 


l> 


05 




o 






. 


t> 


OS 


S 


















• 














• 






-o 




^ 


d 


rt 




d 








d 


d 




d 








d 


d 


r— ( 




o 


O 


o 




o 








o 


o 


X— 


o 








S 


o 


K 








































= O 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o o- 


O 


O 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


O 


o 


o 


o 


o 


1 


'>i^ 


CO 




TtH 


CO 




•^ 






<M 






tH CO 


r-t 






-<?♦ 


^ 


Q 


■- (N 


-<*< 


tH 


l> 


o 


o o 


05 


rH 


o 


lO 


rH 


lO 


'^ tH 


tH 


r-t 


o 


o 


00 




T(H 


tH 


(?q 


Tin 


TtH 


>* -^ 


CO 


O 


(M 


lO 




CO 


CO CO 


CO 


(N 


rt^ 


CO 


tH 


^ 


O 00 


l> 


i> 


O 


Oi 


O C^i 


Ci 


tH 


o 


00 


00 


as 


05 05 


Ol 


r-t 


CO 


<M 


CO 


-*-"> 


" i-t 


I— ( 


t> 


O 


o 


o o 


o 


<X> 


t- 


<x> 


CO 


o 


O O 


o 


t> 


CO 


CO 


t> 


^ 


rH 


rH 






1—1 


1— ( I— ( 


iH 










rH 


r-t r-l 


r-< 


















































. 


. 


. 


. 




'V- 




. 


. 


. 


. 




-v- 




. 


. 


. 


. 




• 


• 


• 


• 




i 




• 


• 


• 


• 








• 


• 


• 


• 


. 




: 


: 


1— < 




J 

.2^ 




;id 


: 


: 


1—1 








1—4 


: 


: 


r-H 


o 

o 


r-t 
< 


•s 


I— c 
< 


< 

CD 
■+J 








< 


*5 

l-H 


•r-t 




|| 

.2:2 




t-l 


-1-3 




< 

■a 




02 


** 


H 


^ 




Q 




^? 


H 


^ 


d 

>-3 








3 
1-3 


H 


H 


^ 
















n "^ 


rH 


m 


00 


t> 


O lO 


cq 


CO 


CO 


lO 


l> 


CO 


00 lO 


O 


O 


Oi 


O 


— < 




CO 


CO 




C<J 


iCi 


rH rH 


-* 


CM 


-*! 


CO 


<M 


CO 


lO r-t 


CO 




<N 


CO 


CO 


i 


sg^ 


-* 


»o 


00 


a 


(N tH 


»o 


t> 


05 


(M 


tH 


CO 


1> 05 


o 


cq 


CO 


lo 


l> 


(N 








iH iH 


rH 


t—t 


rH 


(M 


(M 


CI 


cq C<J 


CO 


CO 


CO 


CO 


CO 




-S 




1— 1 

i-H 


r-l 
r-1 


1-t 
T-^ 


iH iH 
rH iH 


iH 
IH 


r-t 
iH 


r-i 


1-i 

1-* 


r~* 
r-t 


1—1 

r-t 


r-t r-t 
r-t r-t 


r-l 
tH 


r-i 
r-l 


iH 
r-t 


rH 
rH 


r-l 
rH 




•o' 


































. 




-tJ 






































fl 






































O 




































<D 


o 
























































•>■ 














•^ 




s 


o 


















» 














•\ 




oJ 




















»» 


















p 


2s- 


















«» 














•■« 





App. II. 



AT MAYOLO. 



479 











^ 














§ 

























g 














^ 


















o 






13* 










1-) 








6 
















o 






.^ 








00 






■+J 


d 
















in 















I-« 








p 
















o 






r" 








pH 






'T' 


_o 
















r^ 






Pi 








1-i 

.. A 






^ 


^ 































































r^ 














b» 












b- 












i> 














«> 












t> 






O 











































^ 














Ttl 










-* 






CO 








o 






: 


l> 


OS 











• 




1-i 






m 








fi 








d 


p 




d 










d 






d 








o 

— » 


~k 






s 
































o 


o o 




















































o 


TJ< 




(M 


CM 


c^ 


CO 






00 


I-H 


TiH 


CO 


CO 


tH 


CO 




I-H 




Oi 


C5 CO 


00 


(M 


CO 


10 


10 


CO 


CO (M 


I-H 


CO 





05 


«D 


05 


CO 





I— 1 




Qi 


01 (M 


(>< 


CO 


■*• 


rh 


1-t 


(M 


(M <M 


CN 


""t" 


10 





CO 


CO 




10 


(M 




Oi 


CS C5 


o> 


I^ 


CD 





CO 


(75 


05 CI 


C5 


00 


CO 


05 





>-( 


I-H 


I— 1 


(M 




o 








1^ 


10 


00 


»o 











th 


00 


■* 


»o 


10 


a> 





CI 




I-H 


i-i t-i 


i-t 










I-H 


T-i -H 


I— ( 
























~^ 


- 


. 


. 


. 


^ 




■"^ 


• 


• 


. 


• 


. 


. 


. 


. 






^ 




• 


• 


• 


• 




^ 




• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


» 






o3 














.S3 
























'"rO 








. 






«M^ 














• 














•4-a 


• 


r— 1 


' 




8- 




• 


-4J 
I-H 




• 


' 


< 


• 


: 






^ 0) 






I— ( 
<1 


S 
'a, 


1 — 1 








*5 


a, 


1 


Z 


•* 


;; 


•> 








•-5 
00 


H 


f3 


H 




fi '' 




H 


d 

1-3 


d 

»-5 














i-H 1-1 


(M 




<* 


c^ 





Oi 





10 »o 


-* 


05 


1-1 





00 


10 


Tt4 


CO 







■"f 


CO r-1 


C^ 


10 


rH 


r-i 


iCi 


10 


(N CO 






r-1 


CO 


iO 


I-l 


?— ( 


r-i 


CO 




Oi 


>-l CO 


tH 


10 


r-* 


CO 


tH 


t-' 


Oi 


<N 


T*^ 


r^ 


CO 


t- 





tH 


CO 


l> 




CO 


^ **l 


<* 


T}* 


'«< 





»o 


id 











CO 


CO 


-«*H 


^ 


•* 


Tfl 






r-i rH 


t-l 


I-^ 


l-H 


i-t 


r-i 


i-H 


r-i r-i 


CM 
r-1 


i-l 


I-H 




I-H 




IH 







I-H 



r-l 




r-l 





o 
>» 



480 



OBSEEVATIONS FOE LUIifAR DISTANCES 



App. II. 









o 

O 

W 

O 





















































fl 














d 












^ 












8 














§ 












^' 












^ 














^ 












5 












Cm 














Cm 












1 


^ 






« 




O 








lA 






O 








O 




■" 






1-1 












?^ 






, 






















H 














H 


















t* 




•+= 








»H 






-*3 








1-1 




5P 


■• 










© 








T-i 






<P 












.S 












a 


































1 




ffi 














^ 














o 






1M 




1— 1 








r-l 






P4 








rH 
1-H 




Ph 






































(i 


}^ 










o 














O 












a 


A 




































w 


^ 










h» 














r^ 












H 


u 










l> 














i> 














- o 


o 




o 






O 


O 




O 








O 


O 




o 




S 


CO 


(M 




•«»< 






>o 


<N 




""^ 














o 




fc 






































W 


- to 


V5 




o 




• 


CO 


»o 




o 






• 


» 


lO 




o 




5 












• 














• 












fl 


fl 




fl 






d 


d 




d 








d 


d 




d 




o 


O 




o 






o 


o 




o 








O 


o 




o 




i 


= o 


o 


o 


o o o 


O 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o o 


O 


O 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o o 


o 


'<*< 


(N 


""ijl 


»0 (N (M 




i-i 




"^ 




lO 






CO 


c^ 




■*! 


CO )o 


^ 


s 


^ (N 


^ 


CO 


(M C<J (M 


T-( 


O 


CO 


r^ 


00 


t> i> 


CO 


(M 


as 


CO 


CO 


oc 


O i- 


1^ 


■^ 


rH 


tH 


^ 


^i Tji TP 


CO 




T-{ 


CO 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


(>4 


lO 


1-t 


(>4 


<M 


<N <N 


(M 


§ 


^ 


(N 


lO 


lO lO lO 


r^ 


CO 


(N 


o 


lO 


lO lO 


to 


CO 


CO 


00 


CO 


KO 


«0 lO 


»n 


?^ 


" (M 


CD 


00 


00 00 CO 


CO 


l-H 


I— t 


J- 


00 


00 00 


00 


h- 


o 


as 


00 


00 


OC 00 


cc 


<! 


I— ( 










r-< 


rH 












1-K 
















% 


fll 


• • • 

• • • 

• • • 

• • • 


• 
• 


• 


« 


I— 1 
< 


CD 


: : 


: 


r— 1 

< 


'• 


• 


-M 

^ 


o 


• • 


• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 


s 


•+3 

I— I 

<1 


•1-1 


1 


•k •« v^ 


1 


-4^ 






1 

02 


: : 


- 


t 

'& 


-t-5 

^ 


< 




-n 


«» •« 


: 




H 


^ 


Q 




!3 


M 


H 


^ 


fi 






d 


H 


H 


d 


P 








-S 


o 


lO 


(M CO l> 


O 


(M 


tH 


t^ 


tH 


00 CO 


o 


CO 


o 


»o 


00 


O 


■* o 


CO 




CO 


(M 


T*< U3 (M 


rH 




^ 




(M 


r-i Tfl 


r-{ 




^ 


(M 




CO 


'^ 


TH 


1 


S r-l 


>«*< 


r^ 


05 r-l CO 


lO 


00 


05 


(N 


tH 


CO rH 


CO 


lO 


CO 


00 


rH 


CO 


rji. !r> 


00 








rH m 


1-1 


r-\ 


r-l 


<N 


(M 


CI CO 


CO 


aj 


CO 


TP 


iA 


lO 


lO lO 


iO 






l-H 
IH 


r-i 
1-1 


r-l 1-t 1-) 
iH tH iH 


1—1 


iH 


iH 
rH 


r-! 
r-( 


r-l 
r-l 


rH rH 
rH ri 


rJ 
ri 


rH 


-H 
rH 


1-i 

r-l 


1—1 
rH 


rH 


n rH 

rH rH 


r-H 




■O* 












































































a 




































oS 


H 






































t 




































2 


S«J 


























«N 










a 


°0 >. 












•V 






• 



















App. n. 



AT MAYOLO AND MOUENDI. 



481 



d 














O 


























• 

a 




S 














O 


























o 




o 














£ 


























o 




^ 














g 


























S 




Cm 














"H 


























Ct-t 




e 








O 






O 




















»o 






O 


















, 




















rH 










[^ 














W 


1 






a> 


















W 












CO 






-fj 






q 












CO 






-tj 












to 








•43 






-tj 












rH 






^ 




cS 














c3 


1=; 






>-i 


















o3 




S 








o 






S 


1^ 






^ 












rH 
tH 






Ph 






































. 











o 














O 












cq 














o 




t* 














r^ 












cq 














cq 




t> 














t> 












i> 














l> 






O 


O 




o 

tH 










o 




o 






o 


o 




O 

cq 










: 








iH 






• 
• 








CO 

g 




'- 


CO 

o 


g 




CO 

g 






• 




o o 


o 


o 


O 


o o 


O 


O 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o 


O 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


o 


o 


o 




CO 


(M 


<M 


CO 


CO iH 


CO 


C4 


cq 




»o 


tH 


CO 


lO 








tM 


ICi 


rH 


cq 


^ 




OS -^ 


(M 


(N 


cq 


tH iH 


o 


r^ 


r^ 


fD 


»o 


»o 


tH 


CO 


1-^ 


CO 


o 


CO 


CD l> 


lO 


^ 


CO 




lO (M 


»o 




c^ 


C<l (M 


cq 


c^ 


iH 


cq 




th 


TJ^ 




CO 




rH 


'^ 


tH -"tl 


-*l 


CO 


r-i 




t> o 


t^ 


cq 


lO 


lO lO 


lO 


«5 


•H 


lO 


CO 


CO 


lO 


»o 


tH 


o 


r^ 


OS 


OS OS 


OS 


r-i 


CO 




00 05 


00 


OS 


00 


00 00 


00 


OS 


00 


OS 


OS 


OS 


cq 


rH 


cq 

rH 


OS 


CO 


OS 


OS OS 


OS 


t- 


00 




;ii • 


• 


• 


'' 


i : 


• 


-♦J 

I— 1 


• 


^J 


• 


: 


^ 


• 


: 


: 


■*^ 


: 


: : 


• 


^ 


; 




<1 * 




^ 


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* 


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^ 






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m 






< 






piter 
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■+- 


^> 








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f-t 








^ 


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^ 


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41 


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< 


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< 








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^ 




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H 


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p 






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P 






^ 


H 




lO (N 


o 


cq 


O 


o »o 


o 


tH 


o 


CO 


h- 


lO 


»o 


cq 


00 


CO 


CI 


O 


m CD 


cq 


O 


o 




Tt< cq 


CO 


r-i 




CO lO 




CO 




CO 




tH 


rH 


Cv| 


r-i 




Tfl 




T*H IQ 


o 


CO 


rH 




tH tH 


(Ti 


rH 


■^ 


lO cr> 


rrj 


rH 


CO 


o 


cq 


CO 


CD 


00 


O 


CO 


lO 


1^ 


00 OS 


cq 


lO 


r- 








tH 


tH 


IH T-l 


iH 


cq 


cq 


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T^ 


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-*l 


tH 


lO 


CO 


CO 


CO 


CO CO 


T^ 


Tf( 


TJH 




I— 1 I— 1 




I— 1 


cq 
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cq cq 

jH rH 


cq 

rH 


cq 

tH 


cq 

IH 


o 

iH 


o 

tH 


o 

r-l 


O 


o 

r-i 


o 

iH 


OS 


OS 


OS 


a OS 


OS 


OS 


OS 











482 



OBSEEYATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES 



App. II. 



m 
o 

< 

H 

CO 



P5 

< 

yA 

C^ 
O 

O 

;> 
o 















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w 












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o 

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o 




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o 




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o 


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to 






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to 




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lO 




CO 




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CO 


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CO 




J 


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CO 


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rt 


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fl 






PI 


fl 




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d 


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d 


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o 


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CM 


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CO CO ttH 


CM 


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Q 


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05 


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00 


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CD 


rH 


t^ 


CO CO CO 


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OS 


M 


o 


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1— ( 


»o 


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i-H 


CO 


CO CO CO 


TjH 


r-i 


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CM 


CM CM CM 


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05 05 05 


r^ 


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13 


Q 




^ 


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d 

1-3 


M 


p 




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o 


o 


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r-i 


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CO 


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CO 


1-H 


C^ 


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O 


lO i> to 




tH 




>* 


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■* 




(M 


r-l 


rH 


rH CO lO 


TtH 


O 


to 


CM 




■* Til 


s 


2^ 


1-1 


(N 


tH »0 CO 


00 


o 


r^ 


o 


(M 


CO T^ lO 


1^ 


OS 


tH 


CO 


OS 


O Cq CO 


o 


»o 


lO »o O 


lO 






rH 


rH 


1— 1 rH )— 1 


rH 


rH 


CM 


CM 


CM 


CO CO CO 




J3 O 


a 


05 


OS O) CS 


OS 


o 

r-i 


o 
1-1 


O 
1—1 


O 


O O O 
1—1 r-i r-t 


O 


O 
rH 


O 
r-l 


o 

rH 


o 

r-i 


o o o 

1-i r-i r-i 




f 
































(U 


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4 


"1 


















. 















app. n. 



AT MOUENDI AND MOKABA. 



483 



a 















































1 














o 














g 

o 














g 




Cm 














«M 














^ 














^ 




O 








o 






o 








lO 














>o 










f4 








CO 






H 








tH 






«M 

o 








^ 






"^ 












00 






^ 








CO 






^ 














^ 




id 














d 














IH 














n 




o3 














03 














f^ 














(Ti 




C-t 








1— 1 






K"" 








iH 






43 








rH 






■4-3 




p-i 








IH 






P4 








IH 






j/J 








fH 
^ 






m 




(M 














o 














iH 














CO 




<N 














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CO 














K3 




t- 














l> 














t> 














l> 






o 


o 




o 

rH 








o 


o 




o 








O 
-* 


o 




O 










. 


CO 


lO 




CO 






. 


lO 


t^ 




(M 






. 


»o 


t^ 




cq 






• 






d 
o 


g 




§ 


->, 






o 


•H 




g 








g 


g 




d 
o 


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• 




o o 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


O 


o 


O 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


O 


O 


o o 


o 


o 


o 




iH (M 


(M 


(N 


rH 


CO CSl 


TjH 


iH 




o-< 


(M 




tH (M 


CO 


CO 










CO iO 


(M 


T~< 


•<^ 




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00 


>o 


lO 


tH Tt^ 


CO 


OS 


o 


h- 


CO 


o 


(M (M 


(M 


Ci 


t^ 


C5 


■* 


»^ 


l> t> 


00 


CM 


»o 




CO lO 


C^J 




I— ( 


i-H tH 


rH 




CN 




^ 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


IXJ 


TtH 


iH 


<N 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


""^ 


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Oi M 


(M 


on 


ffl) 


Ci 05 


05 


tH 


r^ 


(M 


00 


o 


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o 


oq 


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CO 


CO 


o 


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o 


Ci 


r^ 




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o 
1—1 


TtH 


05 


CJJ Oi 


Oi 


rJH 


o 

iH 


Ci 


00 


Ci 


Ci Ci 


Ci 


a 


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: 


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1=1 




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Alt. 
piter 




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f— < 


1^ 










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bJD 


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r— ( 

<1 




d-S 
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< 


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1-! 


H 








M 


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H 




p "^ 




M 


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M 


H 






H 


^ 




T*< ".^ 


o 


»o 


CD 


CO <M 


CO 


<N 


r^ 


o 


irt 


00 


CO tH 


lO 


00 


(M 


o 


r^ 


<M 


lo CO 


r- 


00 


(M 




CO 


CO 






(N (N 


CO 




CO 


(N 


(M 


Tt< 


iH Ti< 




iO 


lO 




CO 


CO 


<M 


co 




O 




lO l> 


h- 


ns 


-H 


(N CO 


■<!t< 


r^ 


crs 


CO 


o> 


o 


tH CO 


!> 


00 


rH 


lO 


CO 


00 


O »H 


<M 


tH 


CO 




CO CO 


»o 


lO 












»o 


O 










rH 


rH 


r-i 


rH 


(M (N 


CN 


<N 


(M 




© o 


o 


o 
I— t 


1-^ 
I— 1 


i-H 1-1 
rH r-i 


iH 
iH 


iH 
IH 


iH 
iH 


l> 


t> 


00 


00 00 


00 


00 


00 


00 


00 


00 


00 00 


00 


00 


00 





<e 

I 



I 



484 



OBSERVATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES 



App. n. 



CO 



P 
o 

O 
I— ( 

m 

W 

o 



p4 












d 












• 

q 












d* 

1 


-S 
^ 












8 












S 













•a 








o 




^ 






Wi 






^ 













§ 


s 










*s 






»H 






Cm 







f-l 






p4 


H^ 












• 
























&0 




« 






g§ 




^ 






CO 






&; 








(M 






-4^ 
2 


1 








l-l 




% 






iH 






J 






r-l 






1 


CO 


O 






1-t 




m 






iH 






CQ 






1-1 






P4 


a 












CO 












• 















O) 


^ 










4< 












CO 












C^ 


H 


fe 










i> 












l> 












l> 




= o 


o 




o 




































2 


-^ 


(N 




CO 








""H 


CO 










(M 


CO 










- CO 


t> 




(N 




. 


?o 


l> 


(N 






. 


CO 


t> 


CO 






. 


k! 




1—1 








« 




i-< 








« 




i-i 








• 


a> 






































•a 


rt 


fl 




d 






d 


d 


d 








d 


d 


d 








o 


o 




o 




































1 


~ o 


o 


o 


o o o 
































000 











(M 


CO 




!-l (N 


CO 




th 


Ttl rH 


04 





(M 


tH 






tH i-i 


cq 


(M 




CO 

o 


^ '^l 


00 


I— 1 


<N cq CO 


05 


Oi 


T^ 


05 CO 


i> 00 


00 


Tt< 


t^ 





CO 


CO CO CO 


»o 


CO 


00 




"tl 


<N 


"^l 


^31 ^gH Tj< 


T-H 


CO 


irq 


iH tH 


^ rH 


'^l 


I-i 


CO 


tH 


rjK 


1-1 rH rH 


rH 


tH 




o "-I 


<N 


o 


000 


CO 





05 


05 








CO 


1—1 





03 


CD CO 


CO 


CO 


10 


^ 


° t- 


o 


05 


05 05 Ci 





l> 





05 


05 C5 


Oi 


I— 1 


CO 


(N 


CO 


<N <M (M 


(M 


» 


(N 


<1 




r-H 






I-H 






l-H 






iH 




i-l 










I— 1 




: 


; 


; 


I Z 1 


: 


; 


: 


: \ 


I r 


I 


: 


', 


: 


I 


V 

i 




: 


• 




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^ 


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1— 1 










1—1 




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< 

m 


• 


(D 


: : : 


• 


< 

m 


<1 

m 


© 


• • 


• 


• 


< 


• 


^ 


i'z 




g 


• 


o 


I— H 


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1— c 

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d 


•\ •» «» 




^ 
a 


d 

bO 





II I! 


«« 


-kj 

^ 


d 

1 


■4J 








s 


1—1 
< 






^ 


ft 




M 


Of 


© 
M 


M S 






«i 




M 


d 

t-5 


, A . 




d 


M 




« o 


O 


00 


(M CO r-l 


(M 








00 Oi 


00 


00 


tH 


(M 








cq CO 


»o 












CM 


lO 


CO C<> 


i-l 


Ti< 


<N 


'tt 


iO 10 


I-H 


I— 1 


CO 


CO 




CO rH CO 


rH 


»o 


""^ 


aJ 

a 


a 05 


O 


c^ 


"tH CO t^ 


C5 


I— 1 


rH 


CO «> 


05 rH 


CO 


10 





CO 


'O 


CO 00 OS 





(M 


-* 


- (M 


CO 


CO 


CO CO CO 


CO 


"i^ 


■^ 


"<*! -^ 


>* 


»o 


10 




r-< 


a-^ 


1— 1 T— ( T-H 


(N 


cq 


(N 




.a 00 


00 


00 


00 00 00 


00 


00 


00 


00 00 


00 00 


00 


00 


OS 


OS 


OS 


OS OS OS 


OS 


OS 


OS 




,^ 






































•o* 






































H-s 






































rt 






































p 






































vfi/ 












«\ 












•% 












eS 


o3 












f\ 












n 












O^ 


1 




































a5 


^ 




































• 












*\ 












*s 












^ 


00 <o 












•\ 












•V 












P 


"1 





































app. n. 



AT MOKABA AND IGOUMBIE. 



485 















•§ 
































d 
















u 










































lA 






1^ 


























O 






o 










p^ 






F^ 




6 






















CO 






^ 










O 






-4-3 
























00 






-u 










tH 






QJ 






























0) 
















d 
































d 
















OS 




1 




























0? 










r-t 






s 






























1— < 










^ 






^ 


























^ 






























































CO 






tH 














tH 




















• 
• 














00 














CO 




o 


o 




O 










o 






o 






o 




O 


O 




O 










"«*< 


->*• 




CO 






















CO 




(N 


CO 












- 


CD 


iH 




CO 






• 




CO 






CO 


: 




CO 




Vi 


rH 




CO 






• 
• 
• 




a 


d 




a 










d 






d 






d 




d 


d 




d 










o 


o 




o 










o 





,_ 


o 




^ 


o 


_ 


o 


o 




o 










o 


o 


o 


o o 


o 


O 


o 


O 


o 


o 


© 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o o 


O 


O 


o 




^ 


lO 




^ 




CO 


Tt< 


(M 


'^ 


CO 




CO 


(N 


o 


(N 


lO 


^ 


■<*i 


to 


r-i i-i 


rH 


C^ 


(M 




QO 


CO 


(M 


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o 


(N 


00 


tH 


o 


tH 


o 


(M 


Ql 


CO 


-* 


<N 


00 


<N 


(M 


CO ^ 


to 


to 


CO 






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I-H 


I-H fH 


pH 


»o 




«o 


o 


CO 


■^ 




CO 


(M 


rjH 




o:) 




rH 


1-i r1 


rH 


CO 


to 




CO 


»o 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


OS 


(M 


CO 


h- 


00 


o 


o 


05 


r^ 


CO 


CO 


rH 


CO 


00 


00 00 


OO 


CO 


CO 




c^ 


t^ 


(M 


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(N 


r>- 


CO 


CX) 


00 


00 


CO 


CO 


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Oi 


c:i 


O 


to 


<M 


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(M 


to 


1-^ 




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p-i 


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. 




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, 


, 


, 


, 


. 


, 


• 


• 


^ 


, 


. 


• 


. 








, 


, 




































• 
















• 


• 




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• 


• 


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• 


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ft 


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1-t 


»o 


00 


o 


1-t 


lO 


CO 


o 


CO 


tH 


cq 


lO 


CO 


lO 


l> 00 


O 


to 


O 






tH 


i-H 


•<t< (N 


rH 


to 




(M 


'^tl 


<N 


I— 1 


■«+l 


o 




CO 


(M 






tH 


(M CO 


to 


CO 


(M 




r^ 


00 


O 


1-1 CO 


CO 


r- 


CO 


tH 


CO 


00 


^+1 


CO 


00 


in 


CO 


00 


(N 


^ 


lO 


l> 00 


Oi 


1-< 


CO 




(N 


(N 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


co 


'«*^ 


o 


iO 


o 








(M 


(N 


C<J 


rH 


r-< 


1-i 


rH rH 


1-t 


c^ 


rH 




a 


a 


Oi 


OS 05 


05 


Oi 


Oi 


Oi 


OS 


Oi 


o 


o 


o 
I-i 


i-i 


r-l 




O 
r-l 


o 

r-l 


o 

rH 


O O" 
rH rH 


o 

rH 


o 


O 
r-t 





i 



.a 



•-3 



486 



OBSERVATIONS FOE LUNAR DISTANCES 



app. n. 



CO 

o 



P 

O 

o 
;> 

CO 

O 



f4 














d* 
o 
o 














• 

1 












1 














s 






' 








^ 


















o 






o 








lO 






•s^ 








>o 




bO 

^ 1 








CO 






^ 








tH 






^ 








r-l 










00 






-M 








CO 






■u 








00 




bO 








(M 






O) 








(N 


















-S 














f^ 














a 












^ 














c3 














o3 












g 

C/ 


o 






r-t 






S 








vH 






S 








rH 




« 








— ^. 
































P< 


»H 












tH 














tH 












• i 


ra 






































(3 












« 














M 












^ 


fR 












l> 














l> 














= o 


o 




O 








O 


O 




O 








O 


O 




O 




s 




i-i 




CO 










^ 




tH 








(N 


CO 




CO 




s 


~ CO 


i> 




CO 






. 


to 


t^ 




CO 






. 


CO 


t> 




CO 




« 




rH 










• 




r-t 










• 




T-< 










d 


d 




d 








d 


d 




d 








d 


d 




d 




n 


o 


o 




Q 








o 


O 












o 


o 




5 




^ 




"■^ 


y~* 




— > 


■^ 


aJ 








































1 


s o 


o 


o 


o o 


O 


o 


o 


© 


o 


o 


o o 


O 


O 


O 


o 


o 


O 


o o 


o 




CO 




r1 ■«*l 


ICi 


<N 


(M 








CO •^ 


tH 


(N 




^ 






iCl 


rH ■ 


TO 

P 


- (N 


05 


Ci 


05 IM 


CO 


00 


»o 


o 


o 


00 


t>- 00 


05 


rJH 


lO 


lO 


o 


lO 


CO CO 


l> 


^ 


-^JH 




<M 


(M CO 


CO 


(M 


(N 




(N 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


lO 


TtH 


-"f 




rH 


tM -^ 


"* 


^ 


o 


CO 


00 00 


00 


t> 


CO 


"tH 


O 


00 


00 00 


00 


(M 


CO 


05 


05 


00 


00 00 


00 


;i^ 


L^ 


<N 


(M (N 


(M 


I> 


<M 


M 


00 


oq 


(N (M 


(M 


00 


(N 


(M 


00 


(M 


C<l (N 


(M 


<1 


r-l 












I-H 


t-^ 












lH 


rH 












^ 


^ 


* — 


^-~v" 


—' 


, 


• 


. 


. 


^ — 




"^ 


• 


^ 


^ 


• 






-^ 










1 














1 




« 
















• 


• 




u 




• 


• 


• 


• 




a 






• 


• 


• 




b 






































.^ 






-tJ 


• 




r^ 




• 


:*e 


-4.3 


• 




rO 




• 


:^5 


-t-3 


• 




^ 




1 


^ 


• 




f^ 




• 


^ 


r— ( 


• 




©".§ 

o;^ 




• 


:^ 


< 


* 




era 

cj;i:^ 




i" 


•a 


< 








■+3 
< 


<D 

-4-3 


1 


< 








% 




1 

ft 


i 




^ 02 

.2^ 






^ 


^ 




fi^ 




M 


^ 


d 

1-3 


H 




P-*- 




H 


^ 


^ 


H 




fi^ 






- "^ 


O 


lO 


o o 


r> 


(N 


o 


00 


»o 


t> 


■^ JO 


CO 


CO 


CO 


o 


(M 


l> 


lO o 


VO 




" i-H 


i-H 


lO 


CO 


CO 


I-H 




tH 


(M 


Tt^ 


vn lo 


Ti^ 


lO 


CO 


tH 


CO 


U3 


rH (M 




a; 


a "^ 


r-l 


<N 


tH xfl 


lO 


l> 


o 


rH 


CO 


tH 


lO CD 


t> 


00 


o 


y\ 


(M 


CO 


»0 CO 


t> 


•^ '^ 


lO 


»o 


to 






I— 1 


rH 


rH 


lH 


rH rH 


rH 


rH 


<M 


CO 


CO 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 




-S 


o 


o 


O tH 
i-H rH 




rH 
i-l 


rH 


1-t 
r-i 


r-i 


rH 


■f^ tH 
tH rH 


rH 
rH 


rH 
iH 


rH 


rH 
rH 


rH 
rH 


tH 

rH 


rH rH 
rH rH 


rH 
rH 




^ 








































•o* 








































-+» 








































a 








































o 








































3 












































































































^ 










^ 


•§ 














. 














•% 




















































: 








































lO »-i 






































5' 


O r-l 














•^ 














«s 










^ 


QO <D 














o 














m 










n 


r-l Q 







































App. II. 



AT IGOUMBIE. 



487 





d 














• 














a 














• 

d 






R 




























J 


J 























^ 














% 














S 














^ 






%-i 














(<-i 














««H 














Cf-I 






o 
























iO 





























^ 








CO 






^ 








TH 






>' 














^ 






•M 








tH 






■*3 








05 






•4^ 








CO 






-M 






<D 








rH 






<» 























<N 






(U 






a 














d 














d 














d 






^ 














ci 














r^ 














OS 






5H 








1-1 






s-« 








iH 












rH 






JH 






Mli 








rH 






PU| 








iH 






M 








iH 






Ph 

















































































00 












IC 








CO 




























(M 












«N 








t> 




























l> 












t> 



































































tH 


<N 




(N 








Ttl 


CO 




(M 








■<tl 


--^ 




r-i 












• 


»o 


t^ 




CO 






• 


10 


t> 




CO 






. 


iO 


h- 




CO 




. 










g 


I— 1 







g 






• 


d 



r-t 




d 


——A . 








g 


rH 
g 




g 










o 





































































o 




C^ 


C^ 




r-l 1-1 


rH 


iH 


<N 


T^ 


rH 


»o 


CO 




10 




(N 


CO 




(M CO 


r-l 








CD 


h- 


'tl 








tH rH 


(M 


C5 





Ci 


CD 


rH 


»o 10 


CD 


00 


(M 


CO 


r^ 








-H 


r- 






CO 


(M 


»o 


-*! 





»o 10 








T-< 


<N 


CO 





»o 10 







10 


04 











TtH 






r-i 


(M 


oq 


Tft 


on 


00 00 


00 


t^ 


10 


10 





00 


00 00 


00 


CO 


CD 


r^ 


CD 


a 


Cl 05 


ft) 


m 






Oi 


CO 
i-i 


CO 
i-H 


Oi 


(M 


(M (N 


C^ 


05 


CO 
IH 


CO 
rH 





(N 


(N <M 


(N 




rH 


CO 
rH 


CO 

rH 



r-l 


Oi 


(N (M 


(N 









, 


, 


, 


^ 




— — V 


-^ 


. 


, 


^ 


, 


' — 


.-y- 


-^ 


, 


, 


, 


, 




V 


-^ ■ 


^ 


















































>> 














M 








a 






;-i 














IH 






























,c3 














c3 






nn 




: 


-+3 

1— 1 

< 


-4^ 


; 








• 


-1^ 


-M 
< 


•* 




'"' 




• 


rH 
<1 


< 


• 




-■1 
'^ 




•* 







• 


^ 


^ 


. 








. 


^ 


M 


» 




d -^^ 




• 


M 


^^ 


, 




d -"^ 




, 


f-i 




■< 






^ 






< 




■pH 






2 M 




< 




-2 

.1-1 
Oh 


I-H 

<1 




3 






'Ph 




M 


^ 


!-3 


H 




P 




H 


^ 


d 


H 




P 

A. 




M 


d 

•-3 


^ 


H 




P 




^ 


3 




O 


CO 


CO 


»o 





tH CD 


»« 


JO 


r^ 


a 


t^ 


a 


(M CO 


r^ 


(M 


CD 


r^ 





10 


CO 


rtH 


(N 






1— ( 


ia> 


tH 


i-H 


»o 


rH rH 


iH 


04 


rH 


CO 


rH 


CO 


iO 


■^ 




rH 




-* 


r-l 


<M 




rH 






CO 


1— 1 


CO 


10 


t- 


CI 


iH 


<N 


rt< 


CD 


00 


a 


rH r-l 


(N 


"* 


CO 


rH 


cq 


»o 


CD l> 


00 


Oi 






- CO 

r-l 
t— ( 


rH 


1-1 

i-H 


rH 


iH 


rH i-( 
rH rH 


U5 
rH 


»o 

rH 


»o 

r-l 
rH 




rH 
rH 



rH 




rH 
rH 


rH rH 


r-l 


0^ 
r-l 


rH 


rl 

r-l 


1-i 

rH 


rH 

(M 

rH 


r-l r-l 
r-l r-1 


r-l 
rH 


rH 

r-l 







488 



OBSERVATIONS FOR LUNAR DISTANCES 



app. n. 



w. 



EH 

W. 



P5 
O 

g 
o 

I— ( 

o 



w 






















§ 








g 

























1 








^ i 






















«« 








Cm 


'Sb 


; 
















o 




o 






« 


S 


n 






















• 






■«*< 


^ 


o 

1^ 




© 


















H 








^ 


bO 




S 














CO 




•*a 






tH 


-»J 




'-M 














05I 




s 






^ 





1 


o 


1 














1-1 




s 

f^ 






iH 


1 


P5 
































p< 


J3 








eo 












<N 








CD 




^ 








• 






















eg 








t> 












05 








00 


H 


P^ 








CO 












CD 








CO 




_ 


o 




O 




O 


o 




o 






o o 




O 




fe' 




CO 




C<1 




(N 


^ 




CO 






tH 




^ 




fc 










• 






















H 


~ 


CO 




CO 


r 


l> 


l> 




CO 




• 


l> I> 




CO 


• 


51 














rH 








• 


iH 






I 






PI 




d 




a 


a 




d 






d d 




d 




1— 1 




,o 


_ 


o 

^„_ -A. 




o 


O 




o 






o o 




S 




i 

1 


= o 


o 


o 


o o o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


o 


o o 


o o 


O 


o o 


o o o 


(M 


p-l 


CO 


CO T^( CO 


<N 






<N 


IH iO 


iH 


<N (M 


T*< CO 




tH "^ 


tH 


s 


~ CO 


CO 


1-H 


CO 0> <M 


Tfl 


05 


00 


CO 


CO <M 


C<J 


CO tH 


lO l> 


o 


Ol 05 


05 O CO 


>o 


tH 


■«*l 


(N 


O (M ■* 






rH 


tH 


'*^ '^n 


Tt< 


»o ■* 


iH rH 


'^ 


CO CO 


CO 


c 
































ci 


^ 


IfS 


lO 


r-l <N (M 


CO 


tH 


O 


CD 


CD CO 


CO 


CD 00 


C5 'tl 


CO 


CO CO 


CO r-t CO 


-*^ 


(M 


(N 


a Oi Oi 


05 


O 


O 


t* 


l> l> 


l> 


00 O 


O 00 


l> 


» t> 


l> 00 1H 


<i 


I-l 


I— 1 


i-l 






I— 1 










iH 


iH 






iH 






• 


• 
• 


• • • 

• • • 


: 


-4J 


J 


• 


• • 

• • 


• 
• 


* r^5 


-fa • 


• 
• 


• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 


• • • 

• • • 


■8 


<l 






s 




< 


• 


o 


• • 


• 


^ ^ 


< '■ 


© 


• • 


= -^ 


f 


to 

i 
1 


•k 


9\ 


<l . - 


•^ 




-+-a 








±3 OJ 


03 ^j 


§ 




S" 8 










»* 




^ 








5 -a 


•M zi 


■i 

en 


4 


-^ -a 








(£ 




pi 
1-3 


H 


•rH 






M>? 


^ M 


Q 


M ^ 




a <=> 


CO 


ZD 


Tft 00 CO 


Tt< 


05 


(N 


o 


o o 


o 


»0 CO 


O »rt 


CO 


O "^ 


tH iH tH 




" (N 


CO 


I— ( 


rH CO 


"<*• 






-^ 


tH 


TlH 


O (M 


iH 


Tt< 


<M <M 


CO >* 


1 


6 " 


CO 


lO 


C5 (M CO 


lO 


CO 


00 


Oi 


<N <N 


CO 


tH t> 


05 O 


iH 


CO -^ 


lO l> 00 


lO 


lO 


lO 


lO 




lO 


lO 


»o 








rH 


tH 


tH rH 


r-l r-i r^ 




-s 


o 


o 


O rH r-l 
I— 1 I— I I— ( 


r-l 

r-l 


00 


00 


00 


OS oi 


05 


05 05 


05 05 


05 


05 05 


05 05 05 


K 


• 






























u 


ss 










«\ 












4% 








03 






























CH 


o 










•« 












*> 








Ph 


1 






























5" 


CO CO 






















r\ 








A 


CO OJ 










•■ 












r« 








ft 

































app. n. 



AT NIEMBOUAI. 



489 















p 














C 












d 
















5 














O 












o 
















o 














^ 












^ 
















g 














^ 












^ 
















'« < 














eM- 












«IM 










»o 






o 








lO 






O 






o 






o 










rH 






H 








tH 






»' 












m 










<M 






-4-3 








t> 






•«A 






■* 






•*^ 










"^ti 






o 

g 








lO 


















i 










1-t 
1-i 






111 








i-H 

l-H 






s 






<M 






s 










j^ 














» 


































OO 

CO 














O 

00 
CD 












o 
cio 

CO 




o 


o 




O 








o 


O 




O 








O O 




O 










o 


or 




CO 














CO 








rH 

00 




CO 










CO 


T—l 




CO 






I 


CD 


CO 
1—1 




CO 






; 


CO rH 




CO 






J 




(=1 


a 




fl 








d 


n 




d 








d d 




d 










o 


o 




o 








o 


o 




o 

-A 








o o 




o 

-A, . . 










o 


o 


o 


o o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o o 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


O 


o o o 


O 


O 


o 




(M 


I— 1 


(M 


I-< -*l 


CO 




TtH 


TtH 


'^l 


rhi 


r-t 1-1 


rH 


(^4 


(M 




CM 


O (M 


-* 


CM 


CM 




r^ 


»o 


CO 


(M 1-1 


1—1 


o 


CO 


r^ 


a 


CO 


00 00 


r^ 


rH 


t^ 


o o 


(M 


Ci O O 


m 


CO 


!M 




tH 


c^ 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


CO 




o 


Tt^ 


C^ 


<M CM 


04 


CO 


oq 


O (M 


CM 


1-1 (M (M 


T— 1 


lO 


CM 




CD 


-^ 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


I— 1 


o 


o 


OO 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


lO 


rH 


O l> 


CD 


to CO CO 


CO 


<n 


rH 




I— 1 


r- 


r- 


t> t> 


r^ 


r- 


(M 


C<1 


CO 


l> 


l> t> 


t^ 


CO 


CN 


CO CM 


r^ 


t> r> t- 


I- 


CM 


lO 




1—1 












i-< 


I— 1 












1— i 


1—1 








»— 1 








: 


i 


• : 


' 


I 






• 


' 


l : 


'' 


'' 


-*^ 


• -t^ 


; 


: : : 


• 


-»j 


': 
































• ■"! 








1-^ 






■< 


* 


TJ 


* 


' 


' 


< 


<l 




o 








< 


• < 


O") 


. 


• 


< 


• 




. 




vb 






• 


!-i 


^ 




o 






, 


f-t 


^ 


o 






ti 


• 






-<-2 


rt 






-»j 


<V 


S 


-4-A 










<D 


-^3 o 


rl 






1") 








r— 1 
<1 


as 


^ . 


- 


< 


-w 
& 




< 




» . 


9* 


< 






c3 
1^ 




•> 




< 




t-5 


M 


P 






M 


?3 


^ 


H 


ft 






M 


d 


M ^ 


Q 






d 

t-5 


H 




•^ 


CO 


O 


O CO 


o 


CO 


CO 


CO 


Oi 


Oi 


rH C5 


rH 


rH 


o 


00 (M 


o 


O lO CO 


CM 


O 


r^ 




T^t 


c^ 






I— 1 


rH 


lO 


(N 


Tt^ 


(M 


rji 




<N 




1—1 


CO 


»o 


CO 


CM 


CO 




on 


o 


(M 


CO tH 


lO 


CO 


r- 


O 


1—1 


CO 


rH CO 


r- 


CO 


1—1 


00 o 


(M 


rfl CO CO 


t^ 


ct: 


1— 1 




(N 


CO 


CO 


CO CO 


CO 


CO 


co 


'^ 


Tin 


T}^ 


rH rH 


rH 


rH 


o 


»o 










1—1 




a 


C5 


05 


Oi O 


Ci 


o 


C5 


C5 


C5 


C5 


o a 


Ci 


O 


05 


05 O 


O 

F-l 


o o o 

1-1 r-< r-t 


o 

rH 


o 

I-l 


o 

1— ( 





33 



490 



OBSERVATIONS FOE LUNAR DISTANCES 



App. II, 



XII 

Q 
< 



P5 

P 

O 
(^ 

12; 
O 

!> 

W 

o 



e4 




















d 










oT 




















o 










1 




















i 












r 
















o 


o 








o 

CO 


o 








<]3 
























- 






^ 












^ 








l> 


1 


o 






o 










T-H 












M 






























P< 


^ 


















CO 










i 


r^ 


















• 










J^ 


















T-\ 










Eh 


^ 


















t> 












^ 


O 




o 




O 


O 




o 




o 


O 




O 


2 




CO 




CO 










CO 




rH 


Ttl 




CO 


c 
w 


- 


CO 




CO 




O 


o 




CO 


. 


a 


OS 




CO 


« 












T-( 


T-H 






• 










-§ 




fl 




d 




d 


d 




•d 




d 


d 




d 


' 5 


^__ 


o 


^ _ 


o 


^ 


o 


o 




o 

* 




o 


o 




o 


<i} 






























1 


^ o 


o 


o o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o o o o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o o o 


~ r-l 


CO 


G<l (N 






TjH 




(M 


lO (M 




th 


<M 




O rH rj^ 
































to 




























































s 


l> 


cq 


GO 05 


t> 


o 


o 


05 


Oi 


05 05 O lO 


o 


GO 


JO 


tH 


»0 O CD 


'ri 


- <M 


I— 1 


CO CO 


(M 


rH 


rH 




'>*^ 


Tin Tf< lO 


(M 


(M 


cq 


»o 


»0 iO lO 

































cd 


)— 1 


(M 


eq (N 


(N 


(M 


cq 


lO 


l> 


tH tJH -rj^ GO 


CO 


-rH 


i-< 


rH 


tH Tp ^T* 


4^ 


O (M 


(M 


(M CO 


O 


CO 


CO 


(N 


"* 


tH Tt< TitH (M 


C<I 


(M 


CO 


tH 


^T* '^ ^T" 


^ 


I— 1 


I— ( 


T-\ 






i-H 


I— 1 




rH 


T-\ 


r-i 


rH 








■^ 


': 


• 

•< 


* 


• 


O' 


'• 


\ 


: : : : 


' 


; 


J 


; 


• • « 

• « * 


■4-3 


< 


^ 


" o3 








• 


© 


• • • • 


-k3 
r— ( 


4-3 


• 




• 


o 




•* 


" -tJ 


•* 


•^ 


-f^ 


■i 


-1^ 






-+.= 


d 








o 

8 






•-H 


^5 


" •> " ^ 
•• •> " '^ 


c3 

.a 


03 
_c:) 


< 


1 


v« «\ « 

*S 0S tt 




^ 








&1 


H 


S 


H 


CO 




M 


P 






» ■=> 


o 


!>• lO 


CO 


05 


»o 


CO 


I— I 


O »0 00 CO 


o 


cq 


CO 


lO 


rH l> O 




" <M 


CO 


^ TtH 


CO 


tH 


(N 


r-l 


CO 


CO <M lO 


■^ 


CO 


rH 


(N 


^T* ^T* TP 


a 


S "-I 


CO 


-"+1 (35 


1— ( 


CO 


O 


CO 


^ 


CO t> 00 o 


CO 


t> 


O 


N 


CO rH »0 


oq 


(M 


CM (N 


CO 


CO 


rH 


r-< 


rH 


rH rH rH (M 


(M 


(M 


CO 


CO 


CO CO CO 




•* C5 


C5 


05 C5 


05 


05 


GO 


00 


00 


00 00 GO 00 


00 


00 


00 


00 


00 GO 00 


a5 


. 




























o 






















rk 








^ 


fl 










« 










€y 








Ph 


a 
n 

^ 




























aJ 


§m 










•* 


















(S 


-I- 

>-5 










w 










•s 









App. II. 



AT MONGON. 



491 























PI 














d 




o 














o 




o 














o 




g 








o 






g 




'S 








CO 






O 




^ 








t* 






^ 




u 














Vl 




cS 














c3 












Cv| 










C/J 








tH 






Xfl 




















CO 














(N 




1— ( 














1— ( 




t> 














I> 






o 


o 




o 












I-H 


1—1 




TJH 










: 


05 


C5 




CO 






: 






C 


p 




a 












O 


o 




o 








o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o o 


o 


o 


o 


<M 


<M 


Ttl 


(M 




tH rH 


'^l 


tH 


<M 


«D 


a 


IC 


o 


o 


O O 


o 


00 


Tt^ 


O 




(M 




I— ( 






r-4 


r-^ 


CO 


(M 


lO 


r^ 


JO 


»o )0 


»o 


C5 


O 


CO 


C<1 


(M 


CO 


-^ 


TiH "* 


rH 


CO 


1—1 


i-H 


1-1 


I-H 


1— ( 








1—1 


1— 1 


* 


« 
■4^ 




• 


. 


: : 


: 


. 


-♦^ 


■*^ 


^ 


< 


-4^ 


OS 






■*^ 


< 


< 


c3 




<^ 




" 


r— 1 

o1 


c3 


^ 


m 


a, 


h- 


fi 






k 




CD 


(M 


(M 


o 


(M 


TiH l> 


lO 


(M 


t^ 


CN 


lO 


(M 


rH 


CO 




(M 


lO 


rH 


t> 


o 


'tH 


r^ 


00 


O r-l 


(N 


-^ 


t> 


co 


T*H 


■^ 


rtl 


"* 


»0 lO 


»o 


iO 


O 


00 


CO 


00 


00 


00 


00 00 


00 


00 


00 






■% 


















«. 


















»» 


















«» 












- 





B 




<s 




£: 




© 




m 




^ 




o 




r£i 




o 








^ 




a 




<D 




(O 




M 




o 




<Ht 




o 




«\ 




a* 




OQ 


<D 


W 


nd 


•\ 


cs 


P 


-u 


•r 














<1 


s 


c8 


p 


.^ 


a 




5 


O 


H 


fl 


>> 


o 


^ 


•-S 


TJ 


c3 


© 


> 


-M 


!-< 


oi 


© 


r-i 


OT 





^ 


U 


o 


T^ 


•tS 


o 


1 


g 


ca 


5? 


J 


2 




,a 


.u 


© 


2 




© 


02 

•+5 


d 


rd 


^ 


.^ 


in 


© 


•fH 


^ 


2 


■TJ 


2 




.£3 


od 


tj^ 


ar 




© 


1 


►TU 


^ 


;3 


B 




5 


"Sb 


|2; 


fl^ 




o 












QQ 




© 




nS 













ys 




« 






© 



492 



HEiaHTS OF STATIONS. 



App. IL 





























> 25c^O'^ 










































rH 


ill? 

8-2= 


d 










































r-l 


OrQ <X) 


O 




















1 




















(M 

MM 

rH 
r- 
(M 


vation 

the 
ermom 


-(-a 
O 

d 




















^ 

M 




















t5 














































QQ 


o 
















































<u 


?q o (M 










































t:} 


rH Siit- 










































• iH 
















































i-:i 


H 
























fi. 


fH 












































a 


r^ 


o 


Gi 


05 


CO 


in 


lO 


CO 


(N 


(M 


l> 


l> 


i—t 


O 


OO 


C<J 


00 


<M 


t> 


CO 


Ci 




^c3 GO 


t> 


l> 


00 


00 


t> 


00 


00 


OC 


t> 


00 


00 


00 


o 


00 


t> 


00 


t- 


00 


!>• 




■X 






--M 


««5 








«W 






ev. 
















* 












O 


(N 


J-H 


•V 


«« 


(M 


I— ( 


•» 


*t 


T— I 


«^ 


•« 


.k 


•« 


m- 


•k 


•k 


o 


*> 


.k 


•1 






d 


1— t 


r-l 


•* 


•* 


1—1 


I— ( 


•* 


«t 


rH 


«\ 


.« 


m^ 


** 


•^ 


«« 


» 


r-l 


•V 


9^ 


»• 




^ 




CM 


<M 






(M 


(M 






C<> 
















CN 










^ 
















































to 
















































B 


r-5 




_(?» 
■^1— 


Ml* 






•*iu5 








i-IlN 
















» 










'3 


o 


(M 


I— ( 


•» 


«v 


I— t 


(M 


•« 


•k 


rH 


•« 


«t 


9* 


•« 


•» 


•* 


«k 


o 


•* 


•« 


9t 




PQ 


d 


I— 1 


rH 


•N 


•k 


1— 1 


i-H 


«^ 


«k 


rH 


Ck 


•V 


•k 


.V 


•k 


•» 


.V 


1-1 


•• 


*t 


«k 






iz; 




C^ 


(M 






CN 


(N 






oq 
















oq 






















































O 
























































i-iljj 










«ItH 




HlTt- 


Hi* 




h!ci 


— I>n 


WW 






MW 


Ml* 




Ml* 


-H|(N 




c4 


^ 


o 


Ci 


00 


Ci 


O 


o 


CT) 


rH 


00 


O 


t> 


o 


CO 


lO 


Ttl 


CO 


CO 


CO 


rH 


iO 


^ 




d 












































Eh 




^ 




o 


Oi 


05 


Ci 


o 


o 


Ci 


O 


Ci 


O 


Ci 


o 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


QQ 


S 






CO 


(M 


C<J 


<N 


CO 


CO 


(M 


CO 


(M 


00 


C<J 


CO 


(M 


(M 


(M 


(M 


(M 


C<J 


(M 


(M 


^ 


*o 














































O 
















































<1 






hItH 








rtiN 


«w 


Hl^ 




--[?» 


e^\-i< 




Ml* 


r*lAJ 






Ml* 


Ml* 




M|* 


M|(N 




i-I 


~ 


CO 


O 


'tH 


»o 


lO 


CO 


tH 


l> 


TtH 


JO 


CO 


»o 


(M 


rH 


o 


Ci 


Ci 


trq 


o 


rH 


^ 




1 




C5 


05 


05 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


05 


Ci 


Ci 


C5 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


00 


CO 


Ci 


Ci 


Ci 


O 








(M 


<M 


C<J 


(M 


c^ 


(M 


(M 


CQ 


CM 


(M 


(M 


(M 


<N 


CM 


(M 


<M 


(M 


CM 


(M 


(M 


1—1 














































































































































w 








• 


• 


• 


o3 

1 


? 

1 








: 


: 


• 


: 


: 






• 


• 


• 


' 


• 










• 


O 


. 


O 

rCj 

-t-3 


O 

• r-l 








. 


1 


• 


; 


. 






. 


; 


J 


; 


I 












'■^ 




- 


~ 


»v 




-^ 






























^ 


> 


. 


^O 


rt 








^ 


C^ 




^ 


, 






. 


, 


• 


. 


, 










« 


;h 


• 




o 








« 


> 




• 


« 






• 


• 


• 


• 


• 










• 


00 


• 


o 


%.» 








^ 






• 


• 






• 


• 


• 


• 


• 






n 




^ 


-§ 


^-^ 


§ 


o 








^ 


^ 


^ 


, 


• 






. 


• 


• 


• 


• 






3 

3 




- 


o 


o 


1 


m? 










o 

• r-l 


•S 
,p 


• 


* 






• 


• 


• 


• 


• 









• 




a 


c3 

d 

(D 

> 
O 

> 




- 


•N 


O 


d 


o 

o 
fP 


t 

O 

1 






eS 


• 


• 


• 

T3 
ci 

O 
r-l 


• 

O 


• 

d 
&o 










1 


• r-l 

a 


)2 


0) 


7, 








Oi 


i 


1 


C3 
-5 


c3 


d 
o 


^ 


c3 
^3 


<D 


to 












-^ 


o 


05 


> 








r— 1 




! 


CD 


a 

o 


d 

r— t 


.d 
a 


«k 


rH 


d 


1 








1 


< 


o 


o 


P^ 


s 








« 


M 


S 


'^ 


o 


J2; 




o 


O 


o 


^ 










CO 


eo 


CO 


00 


r-( 


l-H 


"* 


(M 


(N 


<N 


CO 


CO 


l> 


o 


tH 


rH 


CO 


'i-t 


(N 


(M 










(M 


(M 


(M 


cq 


CO 






I— 1 


tH 


r-i 


rH 


r-l 


rH 


(M 


(N 


(M 


(M 












aj 


1+ 














































s 


<x> . 










































C 


:5 


1 rH P- 


■g 








1* 
























e5 












1 


32 


o 








J2? 
























P 







App. II. 



HEIGHTS OF STATIONS. 



493 



rHC<|00(MC005000 
O0O0t>O0OOI>CX)0C 



I>COOC<IC505COO»J^-<*HOI> 
l>J>COCX)t>l>l>00t^O000l> 



o 

-a 






7—1 



-!2 

i-H 
1—1 
(>1 



•I 



-IN m!n -I« i-f* ccw WW H* 



i-q« esw '«•<;* H* -m «W< hH< "W (nm 



o 



OC5C5CiOi050505 






'o 



H* He* HN eew MW Ml* 

T-l rH CO CO <M CO CO 



•i\'^ H* u*o "'N —[n «!■* "IN «ic< _i!.5 citn 

rHTtl(N(NOrHG<JCOCO(NOOOi 



CiC5<35C501C505C5 
CN(N(MC<J(M<M(MC<I 



05OS050505O505C505O5CX)C0 
<M(M(M<M(NG<I(M(N<N(M(MCN 






o 



^3 

d 
o 

O 
1-^ 



o 





o 




bO 




r\ 






r3 


:^ 


o 


>- 


a 


3 


5^ 


o 


tn 


rt 


P 


^ 


o 




Pm 


P 




-a 



cot^coosococom 



(^^ 



COt>OOi-l(MOlO 









<^ ^ 



494 



HEiaHTS OF STATIONS. 



App. n. 



^ 



n 



m 
'^ 
O 
I— I 

< 

EH 

m 

O 

m 
H 

M 

O 
I— ( 



f=4 






(M 



-E 
o S 



35* 



•> O 



WW Hhjt H-* "'"s Hn Hn h|«« hIm 

0001>»OCOCD'HOOC<IOOCOOI>0 

OOOOOOOOOCOOOCOCOOt^l>l>CO 
(M(M(M(M(M(M<N(M(M<M(M<M(M(N 



cow HlO HlN ^|u5 MW Hl'# WW r4r» H|f« iHlN ^|u5 

C0l0(NOrHi-Ht>CCl>C0r-(O(M»0 



O0OOCO0OO0O0t>0OJ>l>t>t>l>l> 
C<l<N<N(N(M(N<N(M<N(M(Mcq<M(N 



O 

1 

o 

03 



© 

d 
O 



be 






e3 



P 
o 

I 



ft 
o 



o 

p 

c3 

3 



C8 



o 



fee 60 S 



o;z;^oog^pq^ 



o 

1 

o 

pi 

o 

c3 
O 



go 



T^ iocoi>-ioioio»oooco 



.? 



App. II. 



FINAL EESULTS. 



495 



SYNOPSIS OF EESULTS. 

By Edwin Dunkin, Esq., F.K.A.S., Superintendent of the Altazimutli Depart- 
ment, Boyal Observatory, Greenwich. 

After discnssing tlie foregoing observations, and taking into 
consideration that there is always a considerable difference 
between tlie results determined from East stars and those de- 
termined from West stars, I have concluded that the final results 
are as under : — 



TTam^ fif StAfinn 






Adopted 

Latitude, 

South. 


Adopted 

Longitude, 

East. 


Height above 
Searlevel by 


XlCiJXlC VX fJtJiklilXJllt 


Barometer. 


Boiling 
Water. 


Goumbi, about 40 ft. above river 


O 1 

1 35 


II 
34 


O ' 


fr 


Feet. 
143 


Feet. 
179 


,, (back hill-top) 


... 




... 




238 


... 


Junction of Niembai with Ovenga 


1 38 


23 


... 




143 


... 


Junction of Ofoubou with Ovenga 


1 36 


14 


... 




39 


55 


HiU-top, back of Obindji 


... 


... 




... 




258 


268 


Eiver-level, Obindji 






... 




... 




54 


... 


Nomba, Eigoubou ... 






... 




... 




369 




,. 


Olenda 






1 44 


22 


10 30 


34 


526 




.. 


Nchonda 






... 




... 




636 




.. 


"On the road" 






... 




... 




429 




.. 


Opangano... 






... 




... 




553 




.. 


Lambengue 






... 




... 




478 




.. 


Louvendji 






... 




... 




490 




.. 


Luba 






... 




... 




383 




.. 


Mandji 






1 16 


26 


... 




... 




.. 


Nagoshi 






... 




... 




322 




.. 


Fougamou 






... 




... 




347 




.. 


Dihaou (Ovigui) ... 






1 21 


3 


... 




323 




326 


Mdyolo 






1 51 


14 


11 


37 


496 




.. 


Nchiengain ... ... 






1 51 


10 


11 14 


35 


325 




.. 


Mokaba 






1 58 


29 


11 21 


51 


414 




.. 


Njavi plantation 






... 




... 




610 




.. 


Dogoundou 






... 




... 




473 




•• 



496 



FINAL EESULTS. 



App, II. 



IN^ams of Station. 




Adopted 

Latitude, 

South. 


Adopted 

Longitude, 

East. 


Height above 
Sea-level by- 




Barometer. 


Boiling 

Water. 


Igomnbie 




O ' " 

1 59 22 


O t II 

11 25 


Feet. 
410 


Feet. 


"On the road" 






... 


305 


... 


Yengue 




2 49 


... 


369 


... 


Mokenga , 




2 12 


... 


530 


508 


"On the road" 




... 


... 


738 


... 


Madombo 




... 


... 


1226 


... 


"On the road" 




... 


... 


1486 


... 


Olako 




... 


... 


1480 


... 


Njavi and Ashango village . 




... 


... 


1481 


... 


NiemboTiai . 




1 58 54 


11 56 38 


1883 


1910 


Ouano river 




... 


... 


1285 


... 


"On the road" 




... 


... 


1908 


... 


Mogiama 




... 


« 


2264 


... 


Mongon 




1 56 45 


12 3 37 


2488* 


... 


Birogoii-Bouanga 




... 


... 


2574 


... 


Mobana 




1 52 56 


... 


2369 


... 


Mouaou Kombo 




... 




2074 


... 



By my own calculation of the boiling-point of water observation, the altitude is 2432 feet. 



Note. — Tlie apparent discrepancy in tlie relative lieiglit of 
places near the sea-level arises principally from the fact that the 
method of observation nsnally adopted is not sufficiently accurate 
for the determination of low elevations. The variation in the 
pressure of the atmosphere during the interval between the 
observations made on different days at two or more stations, may 
cause a discordance of several hundred feet, unless a correction 
be applied for the amount of the variation. The only way to 
obtain this correction is to have corresponding barometric obser- 
vations statedly made near the sea, or at a station of known alti- 
tude. By this means we obtain materials for correcting the 
observed barometric readings, or of those deduced from the 
boiling-point thermometer. In practice, however, it has been 



App. II. NOTE. 497 

found impossible for travellers in tlie interior of a continent to 
be assisted in this manner; consequently all beiglits of African 
stations lately published, determined from similar observations, 
are liable to an uncertainty ranging from ±200 feet, on account 
of this constant varying pressure of the atmosphere. From this 
it can be easily seen that the absolute and relative heights of 
stations on a river near the sea-level, must be subject to apparent 
inconsistencies, or at least to irregularities, if the observations 
be faithfully made and computed. 

Edwin Dunkin. 



APPENDIX 



COMPAEATIVE TABLE OP WOEDS IN SEVEEAL 



''lisli. 



Commi. 



CiO- 

wa 

rain 

river 

fire 

prairie ... 
firewood 
warm ... 
cold 
I eat 
face 
nose 

mouth ... 
ears 
head 
hair 
body- 
arm 

leg 

hand 

wife 

finger ... 

nail 

foot 

eyes 

beard ... 

chin 

woman ... 

man 

teeth 

mother ... 

fowls 

b'oat 



kombe... 
ogouaili 
'^•aigaini 
pindi . . . 
aningo... 

mbene . . . 

ogoni . . . 

otobi . . . . 

coni 

mpiou ... 

ifeu 

mi nia ... 

oune jiou 

mpombo 

ogouana 

arouille 

ounejiou 

etoue ... 

ocouva... 

ogogo ... 

ogolo ... 

ago ... 

ouinto ... 

niongon 

nchoujou 
intcho ... 
etoue . . . 

ouinto ... 
olome ... 
ano 

ngouai . . . 
njogoni 
mboni ... 



Bakala% or 
Bahele. 


Apono, AsJiira, 
Asliango. 


diobo 


dioumbi 


gondai 

yiatedi 

diti 

madiba 


soungui 

bouaileli 

disoungou 

manba 


mboulo 


fouta 


shoulou 


rembo 


yedjo 


robi 


soungon 

ye'djo 

mbedjd 

diyebi 


koumou 

misandjou 

kagaza 

yiole 


boshe 


ozo 


diolo 


mbasho 


gouano 

baole 


mono 

maro 


mole 


morou 


longo 

niolo 


nanga 

niora 


mho 


miogo 


nkodo 

dikoundjou, hongo 


quero ... 

dikako 


ino ... ... ... 


milembo 


nialo 


niala 


dibo 


ditanbi 


mishi ... 


disho 


diedou 


minionni 


nkeke 


gaudou 


momiadi 

molomo 


mogueto 

dibagala 


mashoungou 


bei 


miaouen 

couba 


ngouya 

makoko 


ambodo 


etava ... ... ,„ 



III. 



LANGUAGES OF WESTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 



Mjpovi. 



Njavi. 



Ishogo. 



Ohonao. 



akombe .. 
nshoungui 
milanga 
epindi . 
manba . 
boula . 
mbene ., 
iko... . 

koni 
piou 

eshodi ., 

minia ., 

ozo... ,, 

pombo ., 

monia ,, 

metou ,. 

mosho ., 
sliogue' ,, 

djiolo ,, 

mogo ., 
makodo . , 

mizavi . , 

nioDgo ., 
diata 

ekaka ., 

misho ,. 

yiedou .. 

mogneto 
niolome .. 

ngia 

shozo . . 
etava ,. 



ditati .^. ... 


... kombe 


. . dioumbi. 


soungui 


... gondai 


.. soungui. 


fouelila 


... monanga ... 
oba. 


.. niechi. 


manba... ... 


... maiba 


.. manba. 


foula 


... bona. 




nchali 


. , bei. 




... ... 


sboto 


.. rouni. 


... 


motobe. 




bisandjou ... 


.. ezako 


. . bisandjou. 


iviouviou . . . 


.. edioukou. 




mosbou 


... sbodi. 




mesoucha. 






mbousbou ... 


... oz6. 




mbasbou ... 


... opombo ... . 


.. djiou. 


mouuou 


.. monia ... ... . 


. . mouna. 


itougue ... . 


.. iato, or eato 


.. diarou. 


mousboue ... 


.. mosbe 


.. mourou. 


sbougui 


... sbogue ... . 


.. ncbouie. 


nioto .'.. ... 


... mokouba. 




igogo 


... ogogo. 




igolo 


. . . okodo. 




lekaka 


... dikaka 


. . miemba, or miembo, 
mouaito. 


mosbevi 


.. mizavi. 




niadia, niadi 


,,. diata. 




matembi 


.. etambe ... . 


. . itambi. 


misbo 


.. misbo 


. . misbou. 


daidou 


. . kaidou. 
edeko. 




mogasbou ... 


.. mogueto ... . 


. . mokasbo. 


momoga 


.. momogd ... . 


.. bagala. 


... ... 


mino. 




mamo 


.. mobota. 




makoko. 






tava 


.. etava 


.. etava. 



500 



COMPAEATIVE TABLE OF WOEDS 



App. IIL 



English. 



plantain 

father . 

one 

two 

three 

four 

five 

six... . 

even . 

'Tht ., 
iw\& , 

oU .. . 



.cl 



plaiutaii 

g" 

bo. 

kinj, 

antelope 

parrot ... 

fish 

fowl 

eggs ... 
iron 
slave 

freeman... 
sugar-cane 
ground-nut 
cassada . . . 
bullock ... 
honey ... 
I go 

morning 
evening . . . 
night ... 



Commi- Bahalai, 


or Apono, Ashira, 


\ywiiviiv 


JJakele. 


Ashango. 


ocondo,,. 


ako 


. ... dicondai, or digon- 
dai 


ririo, tata 


shaouen 


. ... tata 


mori ... 


ieuoto 


, ... moshi 


mbani ... 


beba 


. ... bel* 


raro ... . 


bUali 


. ... irero 


nai 


benai 


. ... irano 


tani 


bitani 


. ... samano 


roua ... . 


na ieuoto .. 


. ... inana 


roiguenon 


bitani nabiba 


... kambo moshi 


ananai ... . 


bitani nabilali ... kambobei 


enongoume 


bitani na benai ... 


igoume 


dioum 


. ... igoum 


agali ... 





mashi 


nago ... 


alaouen 


. ... ... ... 


mboi ... . 


... 


bouendi 


tako ... . 


.. ... talacco 


• ».. ... .. 


liamba... 


.. ... ... .. 


a ,,, ,,, 


ozo 





• ... ... 


mimbo... 


madouma - mbila malamou - samba 


... 


madouma-moco maloumou-mishi 


ouana ouint 


... mogue'to 


. ... mouana 


ouana olomc 


3 ... momogo. 




oga ... 


mpoumou .. 


. ... madomba 


kambi ... 


kambi 


. ... kambi ... 




ngozo ... 


cozhe .. .. 


. ... cozo 




... 


bashe 


. ... niama ... 




njogoni 


couba 


. ... coco ... 




aque ... . 


mague 


. ... maque... 




obo, mianga 


... doubandja .. 


. ... doubandja 




shaka ... 


shako 


. ... movega 




nche ... 


nshe 


. . . . foumou 




coco ... 


couquai 


... 




benda ... 


benda 


. ... fenda ... 




ogouasha 


ouondo 


. ... digongo 




niare . . . 


niache 


. ... pagaza. 




olembai 


bio 


. ... bouya ... 




mikenda 


makemo 


. ... magouendo 




ibanga 


macouadiesht 


i ... ngouali makali ... 


ncolo ... 


angolome .. 


. ... nshishiga ... ... 


ogouaira 


mboulai 


. ... dibeti 





App. in. IN SEVERAL WESTERN AFRICAN LANGUAGES. 501 



Mjpovi. 


Njavi. 


Ishogo. 


Obongi 


makondo 


... mako ... 





. ocondon 


... diondi. 


••• ..• 


tato 


... . 


,. teta. 




••• ... 


mo 


... . 


. mpoco 


... moi. 


••• «•• 


bioli ... 


... . 


. mbani 


... bei. 


••• ..a 


bitato ... 


... 


. tcharo 


... metato. 


... .. 


bina . . . 


... 


. inai' 


... djimabongo. 


... ..• 


bitano ... 





. itani 


... djio. 


... ... 


esamouna 


... . 


. moroba 


. . . samouna. 


... ... 


sanbo ... 





. ... ... 


nchima. 





pombo... 
oiia 


... . 





misamouua 
nchonma. 


... 


goumi ... 


... 


.. 


mbo-ta. 


,,, , ,, 


medi ... 


... > 


. miasade. 







ncbo ... 


... . 


.. aiba 


. ... shoubou. 
bouendi. 


••• ••• 


••• 


... 


... .. 


mbolo. 


• •• •• 


••• 


... 


... .. 


liamba. 


••• ••< 


,,, 


... 


... 


incho. 




t«« 


... 


maguesbadi ■ 
doucou. 


ma- 


• •• •• 


> ••• 


... 


madoucou-m£ 


leondo. 





#«• 


... 


mouanengue. 







••• 


... 


pai. 




• •• *• 


••• 


... 


mobanga. 




• •• t • 


... 


... 


ngozbo. 




• •. •• 


«•. 


... 


niama miagoi 


ibei. 


• t ■ • • 


1 ••. 


... 


ncbosbo. 




• • • t • 


••• 


... 


mague. 




• • 


. 


... 


mezago. 




... .. 


••• 


... 


movega. 




koxunou 


I ••• •«• 


... 


komnou. 




• t ■ •• 


... 


... 


mococo. 




• • • •• 


■ >•• 


... 


benda. 




• •• •• 


1 ••• 


... 


ndjoma. 




• •« •• 






onbon. 






... 


... 


... ..< 


mia kaii. 


makiakia 


. ... maguielo 


. 


.. diko. 




f»» •• 


• ••• 


... 


ebiti. 





>, 



\ 



ro 



If? 



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